Protoman X
by Blizrun
Summary: Every man wishes he knew what the future holds for him. Dan Parker's future will be more than anyone could ever predict.
1. Roots of the Past

_            This is my first MM Series fic. I hope that I do well._

            This is a story which takes place during the time after the fourth Maverick uprising and before the fifth. Yet, the roots of this story are entrenched long before it. Even before the first robot rebellion, in a quiet town located in the northeastern United States of America.

            Protoman was walking through the woods. He had been wandering around for over two years now. Soon, he would be back at Dr. Light's lab in Washington.

'Stupid teleporter experiment,' he thought bitterly. He stopped and looked around. It was getting late and he needed to rest for the night.

'Well, I guess this place is as good as any.'

Protoman sat down on a nearby stump and began to do the only thing which kept his sanity during these past years. He began to whistle. The four tone, five note song echoed throughout the forest and into the town. One child, no more than five years old, heard Protoman's whistling. As curious as all children are, he began to follow the tune, the fall foliage adequately masking the sound of his feet. Dashing in-between trees, he saw Protoman sitting on a stump. 'He's the one whistling.' The boy thought. He carefully made his way to a log closer to Protoman.

            The boy sat there and watched Protoman for a few minutes. Slowly, he put his lips together and began to whistle along with him. Protoman then noticed that his whistling suddenly sounded stronger than normal. He ignored it and continued to whistle. A few minutes later, his robotic hearing picked up a change in the tune. Yet, it wasn't from him. It was literally impossible for him to make a mistake. Protoman immediately stopped and his suspicions were confirmed. Someone else was whistling.

            The boy instantly became afraid when Protoman began looking around. The boy turned around and crouched down even further behind the log. He heard the rustling of leaves as Protoman began searching.

'Please don't let him find me. Please don't let him find me,' the boy thought over and over.

After a minute the footsteps stopped. The shaking boy opened his eyes and looked up to see Protoman staring down at him. Fear overtaking the boy, he bolted back towards his home.

"Hey kid wait! I'm not…" Protoman started, his arm stretched out towards the boy. "… going to hurt you." He sighed and shook his head. Now he would need to leave before the police started looking for him.

            Doctor Thomas Xavier Light lied down on his lawn chair. The night sky glittered like diamonds against black velvet above him. It had been a year since the confrontation with Wily's red demon. The only ones to have survived that horrible thing were Auto, the giant extraterrestrial robot Duo, and Bass' dog Treble. Blues, Rock, Roll, Bass, Rush, Eddie and Beat had all been killed just so that they could save his latest creation, Megaman X.

"Just give us your money and you'll walk away from this punk."

Dr. Light looked down on the lonely road in front of his house. He could see a local gang attempting to rob an innocent man that had been taking a stroll under the stars.

"Yeah, you'll walk away. A few cuts and bruises maybe, but you'll live," another one of the gang members said, triggering the others to laugh. The man reached to his right pocket. The gang thought that he was getting out his wallet but were wrong. The man whipped out a pistol he had holstered. The leader revealed his own weapon and shot twice.

            The man fell backwards as the bullets slammed into him. "Stupid asshole," the leader said as he tucked his pistol into his pants. Dr. Light shook his head.

'People have no respect for others these days. It seems as if they have already forgotten what it was like under Wily's threat.' The gang, after finding no money on the man at all, turned around and started to walk away. To Dr. Light's surprise, the man was still alive.

            Ignoring the excruciating pain, the man walked over and picked up a lightweight pole that had been on the side of the road. Drawing his right arm back he took two running steps and threw it like a javelin. The pole whistled through the air and imbedded itself right in a gang member's thigh. "Augh!" The thug cried out. The leader whipped around with his gun drawn.

"Mother fucker!"

The leader let loose a trio of rounds. The man jerked as one of the bullets went right into his heart. At last he fell down dead. The gang quickly made off before the police arrived.

            For reasons he could not understand at the time, Dr. Light walked down to where the man laid.

"My God," he said as he saw the man, "he's barely an adult." Bending over, he picked up the man's discarded wallet and looked for his driver's license. The man's name was Daniel Parker and he was twenty years old. Judging from the condition of the license, Dr. Light guessed that he had just moved here. He looked down at Daniel's body and picking it up, he brought it inside his lab.

            Dr. Light worked for six months. The work gave him something to do instead of just lounging around all day long. At last it had been finished. He had successfully built a robot that had the same exact appearance of Daniel. Using mainly theoretical procedures, Dr. Light managed to shift all of Daniel's knowledge into his robotic duplicate. He couldn't understand why he had done this. Because he had built Daniel's new body using the same schematics as he had for X, Dr. Light decided that rather activate him, he would put Daniel into stasis as well.

            Placing him in the same room as X, Dr. Light looked at the both of them. 'I hope that the day you two are activated, the world will be a much better place.' His eyes lingered on Daniel for a moment. His armor had been painted red and he even had a helmet. Dr. Light could only guess at what his reaction would be upon waking up. Sighing, he turned around and left.

            _Okay, I'm using Erico's story, 'Whispers of Time' as my basis for a story line with one minor change. Where as Erico placed Dr. Light's lab in __Tokyo__, __Japan__, I'm placing it at the base of __Mount St. Helens__ in __Washington__. R&R please._


	2. Discovery

_Disclaimer: MM series belongs to Capcom._

            Dr. Cain was busy getting lost in his thoughts. Whenever he needed to think he always went back to the ruins of Dr. Light's laboratory. Despite his age and importance, he refused any assistance or protection of any kind. He idly kicked a rock across the field.

'Dr. Light was certainly the most brilliant man who ever lived, more brilliant than Einstein himself.' Cain was so lost in his thoughts, he stumbled over an outcropping. After steadying himself, he looked backwards and felt his heart skip a beat. The stone had been knocked loose, revealing the glint of metal.

            Forgetting his age, Cain kneeled down on the ground and began digging. When Mount St. Helens had erupted and covered Dr. Light's lab, much of it had been separated and moved a ways. There was a very real possibility that what he tripped on was from there. Cain felt some of his youthful energy return to him. After a few minutes, he shakily stood back up. Taking out his phone, he called the nearby digging company that he had first hired when he found X.

"Hello, Joe's contracting."

"Steven, its Dr. Cain."

"Oh, hello Doctor. You need our help again?

"Damn right I do. Get your best men out to Dr. Light's lab."

"You found something?"

"You bet I did." He answered, looking down at the exposed capsule.

            After the digging company had successfully extracted the capsule, Cain had it transferred to MHHQ. X and Zero were lounging around when the old man came bursting through the main doors.

"Hey Doc, where's the fire?" Zero asked as Cain raced by.

"Can't talk now, maybe later," he shouted back from down the hall. X and Zero just stared.

"What do you suppose got him that excited X?"

"No clue. He's going to regret it later though."

"How come?"

"After running at that speed, at his age, he's going to have a REAL sore back tonight." Zero chuckled.

"Yeah you're right. I'm gonna kill some time in the training sim. You wanna join me?"

"No, I want to find out what's got Cain in such a good mood."

"Alright, catch you later X." Zero left his friend behind with a dismissive wave over his shoulder.

X turned on his heel and walked towards Cain's lab area.

            Cain was busy brushing away the layers of dirt that prevented him from looking into the capsule when he heard a knocking on the door.

"I'm busy, come back later," he absently said. The door opened and someone stepped in.

"I said come back later."

He turned around and saw X standing there.

"Oh, X. For you, I'll make an exception."

"What's that," X asked, walking over to the dirt covered capsule.

"Ah yes, this. Well, yesterday I was walking at Dr. Light's lab remains, I found this. I had the same company I hired when I found you extract this as well."

"What is it?"

"Don't you recognize the shape? It's another capsule." X's eyes widened.

"No way, it can't be."

"I know but it is. Dr. Light built another reploid. Do you want to help me clean it off?"

"Sure!" Cain handed X another brush and they set to work.

            The work was long and tedious. Twice X almost broke something. The connection outlets and plugs on the back proved to be the most difficult to clean, due to their necessity to revive the reploid within. Finally, after three hours, the capsule was cleaned and X and Cain got their first look at its passenger. X walked up and put his hand on the plasteel. After staring at him for several seconds he turned to Cain.

"Is it possible that he was the first reploid created by Dr. Light?"

"No, you're still the first X."

"How can you tell?"

"A few various things here and there. If anything, he's the second one." X nodded and turned back to him.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's activate him." Dr. Cain shook his head.

"It's too dangerous. Unlike your capsule X, his had no power provided. For all we know, he might no longer be functioning."

"So what do we do? We can't just leave him like this."

"No, we can't. What we're going to do first is hook his capsule back up to a power source. I have the necessary equipment here already. Just give me hand in digging through some old junk, will you?"

            X nodded and helped Cain look through all the old stuff he had in his lab. It took a little while, but soon they had all the required connectors and wires. Dr. Cain plugged them into his power generator, fiddled with a few things, and secured all the connections.

"Here goes nothing." He activated the generator. At first nothing happened. Then the panels on the capsule began blinking. X jumped back when one of them sparked for a moment. After a couple more seconds and the capsule was fully back online.

            "Now let me run some tests X. This shouldn't take too long." Cain fiddled with his glasses then walked up close to the consoles. He pressed various buttons and studied the readouts.

"So what does say," X eagerly asked.

"Hmmm, this is going to take longer than I thought. If you want, you can go get Zero. He might be interested as well."

"Okay." Just as X had left he heard Cain swear for some reason. Shaking his head, X headed off towards the training sim.

            The Crimson Hunter was currently engaged with a high level training program, running through it with his beam saber cutting and buster blazing. He reached a totaled tanker and found himself suddenly surrounded by a quartet of Bee Bladers. He grinned.

"Too easy."

            His left arm snapped up and let loose a series of brilliant blue shots into one of the flying mechanical threats. The first Bee Blader was consumed in a fireball while the two open fire with their main cannons. Zero deftly dodged each shot and flipped onto the tanker. The first Blader continued firing its cannons; the other sent off a salvo of missiles. He brought his beam saber around in a quick, fluid movement. The plasma blade sliced each missile in half, the harmless pieces of junk falling to the ground.

            Zero morphed his buster back into his arm. Gripping the handle of his weapon with both hands, he screamed and leaped at the second machine. For a moment, there was no sound but the whooshing of the Bee Bladers' props. Then the screeching of metal filled the air as the plasma ate through the inner workings of the holographic enemy.

            As Zero fell back towards the pavement, the remaining Bee Blader had locked onto him. He turned to face it but was too late; the next barrage of missiles would slam into him and send him into a world of hurt.

            But it didn't come.

            The sound of a fully charged blast from a X-Buster ripped through the air, followed shortly by the destruction of the flying mechanism. Zero jerked his head to the source of the shot to see X standing there, left arm in buster mode.

"Never thought I'd see the day when the great Zero gets caught off guard," he said with a grin on his face. Zero harrumphed and slotted his weapon back into its charge unit.

"Meh, it was just a hologram. In real combat I can pick off my enemies as they flee."

            X took a deep breath and looked skywards.

"I was just talking with Cain about what he found."

"Really? What was it?"

"You're not going to believe this," he looked straight at his friend, "but it's another capsule from Dr. Light's lab."

            Zero's face deadpanned.

"You've got to be joking… they went over that place with a fine tooth comb after they found you." X smirked and shook his head.

"They somehow missed this one. Want to join me for the opening? Or do you want to go back to your training?" Zero laughed.

"Like there was a chance in Hell that I'd miss this."

            And with that, X and Zero left the room and headed towards Cain's lab.


	3. Activation

_            I'm glad people like this. As a fair warning, this fic will get a bit dark._

            X and Zero finished walking down to Cain's lab. He aged man looked up from the readouts as they walked through the door.

"So you decided to join us Zero?"

"Yeah, I definitely want to see this new reploid you found."

Cain nodded and began going through the final systems check.

"So X, what do you know about this guy?" Zero asked, gesturing towards the capsule.

"He was made by Dr. Light. Beyond that, nothing."

"You mean he didn't have any markings or whatever?"

"No and neither did me when my capsule was found." Zero turned his head to Cain.

"Hey Doc, how long until we can wake him up?"

"Actually I was just about to start the activation sequence now."

            Cain typed a few commands into his computer and the activation program started running. The three of them turned to the capsule and eagerly waited. Power flowed into the reploid's internal fusion reactor, bringing it online. His deathly pale face turned a healthy looking color. Blood flowed through his artificial veins. With a hiss, the capsule's hydraulic systems opened the plasteel door. They drew closer, waiting for the final moment. The reploid's eyes opened.

            "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" X, Zero, and Cain jumped back as they heard the reploid scream out. X instantly had his buster pointed at him and Zero had his saber ready. They watched as the reploid's hands shot up to its chest and he curled up the best it could into a fetal position. "What's happening!?" X yelled out to Cain. The doctor had his hands covering his ears and barely managed to hear X. "I don't know!" They watched nervously as the reploid continued to scream. After a minute, he slowly stopped and was breathing heavily.

            "Wha… what happened?" The reploid managed to ask between breaths, obviously not aware of his surroundings yet.

"My bullet wounds… I don't feel any pain." He sat up and put a hand to his head. Letting his breathing return to normal, he looked around the room. The first thing he saw was Cain.

"Are you the doctor who saved my life," he asked. Cain stared at him.

"What do you mean saved your life?"

"I was walking along the road on the outskirts of town and I was attacked by a gang. They shot me five times. I think the last one hit me in my heart."

            It was then that he noticed X and Zero.

"Neat costumes. Isn't it a little early for Halloween though?"

X and Zero just stared at the reploid. X morphed his buster back into his hand and Zero put his saber away.

"What the hell was that?!" He asked after seeing X's hand reappear.

"Can I ask you a question," Cain said, stepping a little bit closer.

"Sure."

"What's your name?"

"Dan. Dan Parker. Who are you guys?"

"This is Megaman X and Zero." X and Zero each nodded at their name. "And I'm Dr. James T. Cain. I'm the one who found your capsule."

"Capsule? What are you talking about?"

"Can you get up?"

"You're the doctor. You tell me."

"Well, I don't know. You're a special case. Just see if you can." Dan shrugged and easily hopped out of his capsule and onto his feet.

"That felt weird. Are my legs in a cast or something? They feel heavier than normal." He looked down at his legs and let out a gasp of horror.

"What the hell happened to my legs?!?" Dan's breathing rapidly increased as he looked over the rest of his body. His eye went wide with fear as he looked up at Dr. Cain.

"What did you do to me!?!?"

"Now just calm down-"

"I will NOT calm down until you tell me what you did and then change me back!"

"I found you like this in the capsule behind you." Dan whirled around and saw it. "Where am I?"  
"You're in Maverick Hunter Headquarters." X answered.

"Maverick Hunter? What's that?"

"In a nutshell, we find and destroy and a reploid that has gone maverick. I'm the leader of Hunter Unit 17."

"And I'm the leader of Special Hunter Unit 0," added Zero. Dan said something very quietly. "What did you say," asked Cain.

"I asked what year is this!?"

"2129."

"No… it can't be." Dan bolted and headed right through the door. Cain, X, and Zero followed as quickly as they could. Dan ran down the hallways of MHHQ, knocking down anyone who stood in his way. At last he reached the lounge and looked for a window. Seeing one, he walked up and glanced out upon the outside world. "No…" Dan weakly pounded the window. Soon he was beating it with all his strength and saying the same thing over and over.

            "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!" The glass shattered and he turned around. X, Zero and Cain ran in just as he slid to the ground. Tears were streaming down his face as he put his hand to his head.

"This can't be happening. God, this can't be happening." Unknown to Dan, he was now the center of attention, but at that point he wouldn't have cared.

"This is just a dream. This is all just a horrible dream." He picked up a piece of glass from beside him and slashed his arm once.

            Dan gasped in pain and dropped the now bloody glass. Seeing the blood ooze from his veins put the look of despair into his eyes.

"No…" He broke down and cried.

            The next day headlines all over the globe read the same thing.** "DR. CAIN'S LATEST DISCOVERY"** The accompanying articles read the same as well.

"In a conference today Dr. Cain, famed archeologist and reploid researcher, announced that he had discovered another reploid within the remains of Dr. Thomas Xavier Light's lab remains. Dr. Cain issued the following statement concerning the newly discovered reploid, 'All I can say at this time is that this reploid is yet another tribute to the genius of Dr. Light.'"

            Dan kept himself locked up in the room he had been given. The look of despair still hung heavily over his features. He almost never left his room, not even to eat. Genuinely concerned about his welfare, X brought him food every morning, noon, and evening. Dan ate the food without even realizing it. With the condition his mind was in, he didn't taste the food he was eating. It was two weeks after he was found when Cain knocked on his door. Even though Dan didn't reply, Cain knew he was there and walked in.

"I don't if it still is in this time, but that's considered rude," Dan absently said.

"It still is but I have to talk to you."

"There's nothing I want to talk about."

"Well there're some things I have to talk you about." When Dan didn't reply, Cain shook his head and proceeded to talk anyways.

"We need to run some tests on you."

"Tests? For what?"

"We need to see how well you can function, to find out what your limits and capabilities are."

"Why is that important?"

"You're a very unique individual; you were built by Dr. Light."

"He didn't build me. I was born."

"You know what I mean." Dan stayed silent.

"For your information, all the reploids in the world were based off of X. He was the first reploid ever and he was built by Dr. Light."

"So you want to see if I'm more advanced than him?"

"Not really-"

"Just answer the damn question." Cain sighed.

"Yes." Dan thought it over for a minute.

"Fine. This better not take too long though."


	4. Fifteen Minutes of Fame

_            I've gone back and fixed a few things. The most prominent one is I fixed the time placing (see first chapter)._

            Dan's and Cain's footsteps echoed throughout the empty hallways of MHHQ. A party was being held in the lounge and the only reploids that weren't there had more important things to do. Dan kept his head bowed, his gaze fixated on the linoleum floor. Every time he looked up into the reflective metal walls, an unfamiliar person looked back. For all he cared, Cain could take him apart and never put him back together.

            After several minutes they arrived at Cain's lab. The door slid up and they stepped through. Dan looked up and saw his capsule still standing right where he remembered it to be.

"Okay Dan, I need you to go and lie down on the table to your left," Cain said as he walked over to start prepping the computers. The process only took a few moments and when he looked up, Dan was all set.

"Alright, I'm going to put you into stasis Dan. From your point of view, it'll be just as if you're sleeping."

"Whatever."

            Cain picked up a tool lying on his desk and walked over to the table. "Pleasant dreams." Before Dan could reply, Cain turned on the instrument and pointed it at his eye. The shining beam emitted a signal and Dan was out like a light. Cain flicked the instrument off and put it into his pocket. He attached several cables to Dan's sleeping body and set to work.

            Zero was sitting on a chair and enjoying the party. There had been a pretty big bout with mavericks that day and everyone was celebrating their victory. He looked across the room and saw X standing by the snack table trying to decide whether to have either the lasagna or the burgers. A smile crept onto Zero's face as he immediately thought of his promise of revenge from two weeks ago. Rising from his chair, he walked over to the drinks and poured himself a pint of punch. After taking a quick sip, he calmly walked over to X.

            X gasped and dropped his plate as he felt something cold and wet pour onto his head, drenching his black hair. Looking up he saw Zero standing over him, empty cup in hand and a grin on his face.

"What the hell was that for?!?"

"Your little run with my beam saber," Zero smugly replied before tossing the cup in the trash and walking out into the crowd. His mood and appetite spoiled, X picked up his fallen plate of food and threw it away.

            X stepped out of the stuffy room and outside into the night air. Closing his eyes and deeply inhaling, he felt relaxed. The past few months had been very hectic. The fourth Maverick Uprising had been one of tragedy.

'The Repliforce had been a good group of hunters. But because of that dammed Sigma they're nearly all dead.' X thought. Zero was forced to kill Iris, the first woman he had loved. It had done a good number on the Crimson Hunter's emotions, but he had gotten over it.

            X looked up at the night sky. 'I just wish that the peace will last.' But like the storm clouds he could see gathering on the horizon, another Maverick Uprising was unavoidable.

            Meanwhile, in the Cain's lab, Dan slept. In his mind he was reliving the greatest moment of his life. The year was 20XX. Dan was fourteen and he was standing on his back deck looking out on the forest.

"We're almost ready to go Dan," his father called out to him.

"Alright Dad," he replied. They were moving from their current home in Vermont to a growing city out in Iowa.

            Dan absently whistled a four tone, five note song he had heard years ago. He could remember the robot in red armor that he learned it from. When he was that young, the only robots that were revealed to the world were ones like the fliptops and metools. He could vividly remember the robot, its bright red armor, the shield it had on its back, the shades in its helmet and its whistle.

"Dan, it's time to go now." His father shouted. Whistling once more, he joined his parents and left.

            The ride was long and the traffic hell. Everyone was trying to get to this arena where a man, calling himself Mr. X, was holding a tournament to determine who could create the most powerful robot. Word was he was a war profiteer and was holding the event as a way to make up for what he did.

"If Megaman was there, he would be the winner hands down," Dan commented when the announcer gave the list of the robots competing.

            They had reached Indiana when it happened. The sixth Robot Rebellion had begun. Mr. X took eight of the most powerful robots and said that he was the one pulling Wily's strings the whole time. And just as fate would have it, Dan and his family were staying in one of the towns that were attacked. Dan could never recall everything that happened early-on that day. One minute he and his parents were carrying their bags out to the minivan. The next his parents were lying on the ground unconscious.

            Dan managed to get both of them into a nearby alley. He collapsed against the building opposite of them and started to shake. With all the other rebellions, his location in a remote forest community had sheltered him from the worst of the destruction. How he managed to remain awake, Dan didn't know. After a few minutes he peered out and looked around. The streets were empty and he could hear the sounds of fighting in the distance. Leaving his parents behind, Dan cautiously went to go and find help.

            Dashing in-between the deserted cars, Dan managed to make it to the police station. Opening up the doors he could see that the station house was nearly abandoned.

"Hello? Is anyone here," he called out in vain. When only silence responded, he left to go and look somewhere else. After seeing no one for nearly fifteen minutes, Dan was starting to get desperate.

'There HAS to be someone else left in this town.' A minute later he walked into uptown, the center of the fighting.

"Can anyone hear me?"

"Shut the hell up and get over here!"

            Up ahead Dan could see two policemen hiding in an alley, one of them motioning with his hand. He ran over. "Okay, stay quiet now." One cop said, the other keeping a nervous lookout.

"What's going on?" Dan asked.

"There's this robot in the intersection up ahead, tearing that entire block up. Almost the entire force has been killed trying to stop it." The other cop nodded grimly. Dan looked in the direction of the robot. 'Maybe I can do something…'

            And without word or warning, Dan took off towards the robot. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"To stop that machine!"

"WHAT!?! ARE YOU CRAZY!?!" The cops watched Dan disappear around the corner and then looked at each other. "What could a single boy possibly do?"

(A/N: I'm experimenting with first person for the first time, so bear with me if it isn't good.)

            I ran through the streets of the city. Inside my head there was an argument going on which my body didn't pay much attention to. You probably know what one of the voices was. It was the quiet, nagging voice that told you not to do things such as jump off ramps with your bike and that the things labeled "Danger" are just that. I believe it's something called 'common-sense.'

            If my common-sense was a person, instead of just quietly nagging, it'd be hitting me over the head with a two-by-four. Anyways I didn't listen to it and just kept on going for the robot, always keeping myself concealed the best I could.

            They say that a brave man is one that will put himself on the line for others. That wasn't me. I was just a stupid kid with a crazy idea. I glanced backwards to where the policemen were hiding. Heh, I bet they think I must be insane. Heh, they might be right but I don't care.

            I got up behind a trashed Ford and got a good look at what exactly I was going to try and destroy. I'd seen some messed up robots before, but that was always over the TV. Seeing one in person is something I would NOT recommend to anybody, especially someone who's been living out in the boondocks for most of their life.

            I can remember thinking, 'Just what the hell are you doing here Dan?' To be honest, I didn't know and I still don't know. I looked around for something to fight with, 'cause I'd be seriously screwed if I tried to take it on with just my bare hands.

            I spotted a dead cop lying in the corner. Looked like he barely had enough time to curse before getting a hole blown through him. I creeped over and took out the energy pistol he had holstered. I checked the battery and it was at 50% charge. Oh well, it'll have to do.

            I walked out into the middle of the street, a quirky little half-smile on my face. The robot was busy knocking down some poor sap's office with its extendable fists and didn't notice me. So I whistled the four tone, five note intro to this song I knew to get its attention.

            The reaction I got from the robot wasn't something that I expected. It promptly halted and turned around to face me. 'Note to self,' I thought, 'don't do that ever again.'

            Now imagine, if you can, a kid, no more than five feet, four inches tall, wearing a red t-shirt, tan cargo pants, generic brand sneakers and with messy black hair trying to stare down a ten foot instrument of destruction. Now quit laughing.

 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

The robot shot a small burst of plasma at Dan, who jumped to the side and landed hard on his right leg. Dan got right back up and shot at the robot with the energy pistol. The glowing spherical round harmlessly bounced off the robot's armor, went right through a window, and blew up the stereo it hit. 'Shit.' The robot shot a series of smaller bursts of plasma at Dan. Taking cover behind a piece of wall, Dan watched the shots slam into an abandoned car and blow it to smithereens.

            Dan stuck his right hand around the corner of the rubble and let loose a couple of potshots at the machine. Two of them were absorbed, but the third one hit an exposed section of the hydraulic system. Fluid started to leak out, slowing down the arms and treads. The robot, mindless of the damage done to it, raised its left arm and prepared to crush Dan. The squealing of the arms rising warned him.

            Dan darted out from his hiding place just in time to avoid getting flattened.

"Oh shit! That was close!" He glanced at his battery. 'Thirty percent!? Damn, I've only got six more shots left.' Raising his pistol again, he squeezed off two more rounds at the machine, aiming for one of its eyes. The first shot hit home and blew the optic sensor apart while the second one missed and flew into the sky. The robot, its limited AI realizing that the probability of its defeat was higher than first calculated, charged forward and swung its arms down.

            The robot smashed two large craters into the road, sending chunks of blacktop flying. Dan had managed to get out of the way, but was hit by a stray piece in his left arm. He cried out and stumbled. Hitting the ground hard, he instinctively began to nurse the wounded arm. The robot began looking for Dan, despite its damaged sensor. Dan dragged himself behind a mailbox and rested for a moment.

            The pain began to lessen into a dull throb and Dan's anger started to rise. He rolled out into view of the robot and fired off a three round burst into its core. Each shot hit critical systems, but the damage was negligible.

'Shit, I've only got one more round left.' Dan began searching the robot for anything that could destroy or at least neutralize it. Its right arm swung fast and low attempting to crush his fragile body.

            Dan ducked underneath it and ran out into the middle of the road, out of its arms reach. The robot turned to face him and began charging up its plasma cannon. Dan got an idea. A crazy one, with only a minor chance of success, but it was the only way. He aimed his pistol for one last shot. If he failed, he'd be vaporized two seconds later. He fired. Time seemed to slow down. He could see his shot hurtling through the air and hit home.

            The plasma blast went right into the charging cannon. The sudden influx of energy caused a backflash into the circuits of the robot. It made several sounds, and then began to spark. Dan could tell that an explosion was imminent and took cover behind an expensive Jaguar. The robot started to shake and screeched one final time before blowing up. Chunks of metal and circuitry flew everywhere. One of its pieces of armor flew right towards the Jaguar.

            Dan heard the car squeal and felt it buckle right before the armor piece flew out above him with only inches to spare. He got up and walked back out into the street. Looking at the flaming remains of the robot, all he could do was stare. The exertion he had made fighting the machine suddenly overwhelmed him and he fell onto his left knee.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

I sat there for a moment, taking long, deep breaths of the cool refreshing morning air. I heard fire truck and ambulance sirens coming closer to me. About time they showed up. I heard a vehicle stop behind me and someone rushing over to me. "I'm fine." I told them. "Just resting."

            When my parents woke up later that day and found out what I had done, they had mixed emotions. Fear, anger, concern, pride… Just to name a few.

            Next week I was given a medal by the governor for what I had done. Some people said that Megaman might show up and congratulate me. But he didn't and to tell the truth, I didn't think he would. The sixth Robot Rebellion was wrapped up and Dr. Wily, who had murdered Mr. X, taken his money, and posed as him, was finally put behind bars.

            I got my fifteen minutes of fame and was satisfied with that.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

            Cain finished up his examination and brought Dan out of stasis. Dan opened his eyes and looked around. For a moment he forgot when and where he was.

"All finished," Cain said with a smile. Dan swung his legs around and hopped off the table.

"So, what did you find?"

"Nothing special, in design you're just the same as X." Dan nodded and started to leave when Cain stopped him.

"What?" Dan answered with a hint of annoyance. Cain promptly hit him over the head with his stick, causing him to flinch in surprise. "Go down to the party and relax!" Dan snorted and walked out.

            As soon as the red armored man walked out, Cain's face turned grim. He had lied to Dan. He had thrusters built into him, unlike X initially did. He was also equipped with a buster as well, but it was a unique model. The other thing was that his brain was also of a unique design. The examinations had only lasted an hour but the majority of it was spent trying to examine Dan's mind. Cain did discover one thing however.

            Dan was immune to the Maverick Virus.__


	5. A Spark of Hope

            _I think I screwed up with the first person section. I'm not going to do that again._

            Dan walked alone through the halls of MHHQ. He had no intention of going to the party. He doubted that he would ever fit in. Not just here among the Maverick Hunters, but out in the world as well. It was understandable for him to think so.

'I wish I had known,' Dan thought, recalling his "murder". When he looked up from the floor he realized something very important.

'I don't know where I am.' And that was true; having spent two weeks in his room, he didn't exactly know how to get from place to place.

            Sighing and shaking his head, Dan decided that to follow his ears and head for the party. Someone there could tell him how to get back to his room. It didn't take very long to find it. Whatever music they were playing must be damn well close to blowing the amps out. As soon as Dan opened the door, he got blown back by the heavy bass that was being blasted.

"Jesus Christ! They'll go deaf from that noise!"

"Yeah I know, shame that it'll only be temporary."

            Dan looked to his left and saw X standing in the doorway leading outside.

"Hi Megaman X." X waved his hand.

"It's just plain X." Dan nodded and looked back at the door.

"Were you going to join them and start coming out of your shell?"

"No, I was just going to ask for help on getting back to my room. Could you show me?"

            X looked at Dan thoughtfully as he got an idea.

"Not right now, I want to talk with you and show you something. I'll be right back." Dan gaped after X for a moment and then turned away.

'What does he want to bother me with anyways?' Dan walked over to a chair that was against the wall and sat down to wait for X.

            The Blue Bomber soon returned with a datapad underneath his arm. He took a seat beside Dan and turned it on.

"What's that," Dan queried.

"I keep any information on my family in this." X replied, handing it over to Dan. "You see Dan, as weird as it is, you and I are kind of like brothers." Dan shot X a cold look. "Well, stepbrothers at best." Dan turned his gaze back to the datapad and pressed a few buttons.

"Why are you showing me this?"

"I thought you might like to look at the rest of the family."

Dan flicked past an image of Roll and then stopped at the next picture. "I don't believe it," He exclaimed with a laugh.

"What?" X asked, looking at his datapad. Displayed was a picture of Protoman with his Protoshield drawn, defending himself against an unknown threat.

"What's so funny about Protoman?"

"I've met him once." X's eyes went wide with surprise.

"You're kidding!"

"No, I'm not." Dan shook his head as he told X his story.

"Back before the first Robot Rebellion, I lived up in Vermont. I guess I was about five when it happened. I can vaguely remember playing in my backyard when I heard a little tune come floating from the forest. I went to see where it was coming from and I saw Protoman sitting on a stump.

"I watched him for a few minutes but then he stopped unexpectedly. I crouched down behind the log I was hiding behind. He found me in a few seconds and I bolted home. I did get something permanent to remember the event by."

"What is that something?" X asked.

            Dan looked at X with a half smile on his face and whistled the four tone, five note intro. Now it was X's turn to laugh.

"Wow, that's really his whistle huh?" Dan nodded. Just then they heard something screech inside the party lounge, shortly accompanied by a small explosion and shouting.

            X winced. "I guess they finally blew out the speakers. Let's go see if we can help with anything." Dan shrugged and followed X into the room. The small fires from the speakers had been extinguished already and about half the room was filled with thin smoke. On stage, a few reploids were already coasting the burnt speakers out of the room.

"Hey X," Zero called out, walking up to his friend.

"Oh, hey Zero." Zero looked at Dan with surprise on his face.

"So you're finally coming out of seclusion?"

"I was forced to come out. What happened here?" Dan gestured to the last amp being hauled away.

"Heh heh, a really loud song with heavy bass came on and we overloaded the whole system."

"What about those?" Dan asked, gesturing to the small speakers around the room. "Those?! They suck big time! We've got them hooked up to the microphone right now."

            On cue, and with a screech, the aforementioned speakers came to life as the microphone was put on stage and someone turned it on.

"Testing, one, two, three… Okay everyone, I guess we've got to get some more stereo equipment now. Fortunately we've got a backup plan; we're going to do karaoke. Anyone with a song can step up on stage and sing to its lyrics."

            The announcement was met with mixed reactions. X, Zero, and Dan were soon seated at a table, listening as person after person tried their hand at being a singer. Some were applauded. Others were booed off the stage. Dan didn't talk much and just stared down at the table.

"Excuse me… Dan isn't it?" Dan looked up to see a reploid with a loose fitting windbreaker next to him.

"Yeah, what do you want?"

"Well my friends and I were talking," He pointed to table across the room with three other reploids sitting at it, "and we came up with a new name for you, seeing as you're a reploid now."

            X expected Dan to either stalk out of the room or do something to the reploid. Instead he did nothing.

"Let's hear it," Dan said. The reploid smiled.

"Alpha." X and Zero raised their eyebrows and looked at each other.

"Where did you come up with that," Dan replied. "It fits. You're the first human to ever become a reploid." Dan nodded.

"So, can we start calling you that?"

"No." A dejected look on his face, the reploid walked back to his table.

"Ignore them. They're just a bunch of rookies." Zero said with a wave of his hand.

"I thought just as much."

"Hey Zero," X said. "I don't see Dual around. Have you seen him?" Zero shook his head. "Na, he was only here for about half an hour."

            Time passed. It was nearly midnight now and the party was still going strong. Dan had no problems keeping himself awake as Zero was bugging him.

"I told you I'm not going to."

"Come on, you said yourself that you could play the piano."

"I know what I said, but I don't want to."

"If you don't, I'll tell those rookies you changed your mind." Dan looked at Zero with eyes of cold steel.

"I will kill you if you do that."

"Then go up there and play." Dan sighed and shook his head. "Fine, if it'll only get you to shut up."

            Dan rose up from the table and walked on stage. After getting a piano out from backstage and getting the microphone all set up, he sat down on the bench.

"Okay, this is a really old song, but it's the only one I can remember everything about. It's called "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" Dan took a deep breath and began to play.

"Well I'm on the Downeaster Alexa

And I'm cruising through Long Island Sound

I have chartered a course to the Vineyard

But tonight I am Nantucket Bound

"I took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday

Left this morning from the bell at Gardiner's bay

Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home

Too proud to leave I worked my fingers to the bone

"So I could own my Downeaster Alexa

And I go where the ocean is deep

There are giants out there in the canyons

And a good captain can't fall asleep

"I've got bills to pay and children who need clothes

I know there's fish out there, but where God only knows

They say these waters, aren't what they used to be

But I've people back on land who count on me

"So if you see my Downeaster Alexa

And you work with the rod and the reel

Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis

And I still have my hands on the wheel."

            X and Zero continued to watch Dan play.

"You know, this song is kind of sad." X commented. Zero shrugged.

"I think it's supposed to be like that. At least he's a good it."

"Now I drive my Downeaster Alexa

More and more miles from shore every year

Since they tell me I can't sell no stripers

And there's no luck in sword fishin' here

"I was a bayman like my father was before

Can't make a living as a bayman anymore

There ain't much future for a man who works the sea

But there ain't no island left for islanders like me."

            Dan finished playing the song and drew out the last note. His audience erupted in applause. He rose up off of the bench and gave a bow. His helmet fell off him, and some people in the audience laughed at it. Dan grinned, picked his helmet up, and walked off stage. X and Zero were still clapping when Dan walked back to the table. "That was pretty good Dan." X said.

"Yeah, wasn't my type of song, but you played good." Zero added.

"Thanks, oh and Zero?"

"Yeah?" Dan's fist flew up and hit Zero in his stomach.

"AH SHIT!!!" Dan shook his hand up and down trying to relieve the sudden pain.

"Why did you hit me?"

"For forcing me to go on stage and play!"

            After the pain had lessened a few seconds later, Dan sat back down in his chair and tossed his helmet on the table.

"I didn't even know I could take thing off," he said, still rubbing his sore hand.

"Man, do you know ANYTHING you're able to do now," Zero asked.

"Of course not. Well at least I'll be more comfortable sleeping now." Dan ran his hand through his hair.

"Now we can put down your hair color in your profile." X absently said.

"It's weird that you and I both have blond hair and red armor, isn't it?" Puzzled, Dan looked at Zero.

"What do mean? I've got black hair."

            X shook his head. "No, it's blond." Dan got up from his chair and walked out of the room.

"Where's he going now?" X asked out loud.

"I don't know."

"I'm going to follow him. What about you Zero?"

"I'm staying, this doesn't really concern me." X nodded and left the room.

            X didn't have to look very far, finding Dan in the men's bathroom. He was looking in the mirror, his hand running through his hair.

"Are you okay?" X asked. Dan nodded his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Do you know why you have blond hair now?" Dan nodded again.

            "Yeah. When I was… killed that night. My fiancé had convinced me to dye my hair like this. After I did, we both hated it." Dan's head sunk and he punched the sink. "It's not fair dammit! I was going to get married in two weeks! If I had known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have gone out!" Tears started to gather on his eyes.

            "Dan, it's not your fault."

"I know! But… oh God." He wiped his tears off his eyes as a smile appeared on his face. "She's probably still alive. Tomorrow I'm going to go look for her. She'll be an old lady now, but I have to let her know I'm alive." A small spark of hope appeared in Dan's heart and he looked forward with it.

"X, could you show me to my room now? I need to sleep."

"Alright, follow me." X and Dan walked out of the bathroom and down the halls. After X had gotten Dan to his room, he left to go to his room. Cain found him however and pulled him aside.

"What's wrong?"

"X, there are a few things about Dan that you should know."

"Like what?"

"I was wrong in my assumption that he was of the same design as you."

"How is he different?"

"He has dash thrusters built into him. You didn't initially. And they're extended air dash ones, something you've only got with your Golden Hyperion Armor. You also know that your X-buster is really a Mark 17 Megabuster."

"Yeah."

"His buster wasn't based on the Megabuster designs. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. I'd like to get a chance to study him further but I doubt he'd let me."

"You're might be right. Hey, Dan punched Zero a few minutes ago but only ended up hurting his hand. I don't think Zero even felt the blow. Any idea why?"

"He doesn't automatically have command over his new abilities yet, his mind as yet to adjust to its new body. That was just a theory of mine, but Dan proved it correct." X nodded.

"Thanks for telling me Cain. I'm going to get some rest. Have a good night."

"Thanks X, you too."

            _Okay that's enough for now. I'd like to ask the people reading this if one of you is interested in being a beta reader for this story. If anyone is, tell me in the review._


	6. The Awakening

            _I'm looking for a beta reader. Anyone want the job?_

            Dan walked into his room and tossed his red helmet onto his nightstand, one of the more human accessories he had been provided with.

'I wish I could take this armor off, I'd sleep more comfortably without it.' Climbing onto his bed, he stared at the ceiling and reflected on how his life had taken this bizarre and unexpected turn. Dan wondered if he could ever begin to build himself a new life in this strange new world he now lived in.

'I need some music.'

            Turning to his electronic radio, he began to scan the airwaves for something good. Over the past couple weeks, he had just spaced out and didn't take much notice of anything other than his new body. Dan did look a lot like X on the outside, with the exception of his red armor and flesh colored extremities.

            He frowned at his radio. 'Dammit, isn't there anything good on?' Fiddling with the machine a little more, Dan stumbled upon the perfect station.

'Funny, I never liked the blues before.' Smiling with content, he drifted off to sleep with the lulling sound of the saxophone playing in his ear.

            In his own room, X was lying in his bed, pondering Dan's future. X had often wished that he had some family, Cain being the closest thing he had to a father. Now with Dan being here, X actually had someone he could call kin. But he knew that didn't Dan reciprocate the feeling. Sighing, he turned over and went to sleep, unaware of the tragedy that tomorrow would bring.

            BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP WHAM Dan groaned and turned back over, wanting nothing more than to just sleep. That is, before he remembered what he was going to do today. Throwing off the covers he had become tangled in during the night, Dan raced out the door, pausing only to retrieve his helmet from his nightstand.

            As soon as he stepped out the entrance, he looked around in wonder at actually how busy Maverick Hunters Headquarters was during the day. Reploids of all kinds, shapes, and sizes were walking about on their daily errands.

"Hey," Dan asked to a passing feraloid, "do you know where I can find X's room?"

"Sure, go about a hundred feet that way and go down the hallway. Commander X's room is about halfway through."

"Thanks." Dan was about to go when the feraloid stopped him.

"You know, it isn't a real good idea for a rookie to wake up a unit commander, especially one as respected as Commander X."

"Ask me if I care." Dan left the stunned feraloid behind.

            Dan found X's door right where he was told it was.

"Hey, X, you up," he asked. No response. He knocked on the door.

"X, wake up! I need your help trying to find Kate." Still no response. Dan started banging on the door.

"X! GET YOUR BLUE ASS OUT HERE!" The ambient noise around him suddenly ceased.

            Looking around, Dan saw that every single person within earshot had dropped what they were doing and stared at him.

"Ummm… hehehe… ah, dammit." His face turning pink, Dan pulled his helmet on and started to walk away. X's door room slid open and the Blue Bomber stepped out.

"Alright, I'm up. Thanks a lot Dan." Dan ignored X's sarcasm laced voice.

"I had no choice. I'd get lost if I tried to go anywhere." X gave him an annoyed look before walking off.

"First off, before I do anything, I'm getting some breakfast."

As they walked down to the cafeteria, Dan assaulted X with all kinds of questions about the modern world. And despite X's gruff morning exterior, he was actually quite happy that something could bring Dan out of the little world he had been closed in.

            "… and so far Sigma has caused four Maverick Uprisings. Five if you count the Soul Erasure incident on Laguz Island."

"That guy's a big pain in the ass, isn't he?" Dan replied as they stepped into the cafeteria.

"Yeah, so far we've been lucky. His maverick generals have always gone solo." Picking out a table, X and Dan ordered their breakfast from the waiter-bot.

            They were both enjoying sausages and waffles when Zero walked in.

"Oh, hey guys didn't expect you to be out and about this early. Usually you're still snoring up a storm X."

"Yeah well, he woke up me up," X replied, motioning towards Dan.

"So, why'd you knock X out of bed," Zero asked Dan, pulling up a chair beside the two.

"Well, last night I realized that Kate, my fiancée, is probably still alive. As soon as we're done with breakfast, X is going to help me look for her. Hey, you want something to eat?"

Zero chuckled and waved his hand. "Jeez, less than twelve hours after you leave your room and you're already acting like you own the place. I was up over an hour ago, I ate already."

X and Dan finished their meals and headed out with Zero towards the mainframe database.

"So Dan, exactly how do you propose we find what's-her-name," Zero asked with his arms behind his head.

"Kate. Well I figured we try and do a search by her driver's license. That way we'll be able to find her even if she got married."

"Wouldn't that put a bit of a hamper on your plans?"

"Well not that it's any of your business Zero, but no. She's too old for us to get married now. Besides," Dan expression turned darker, "I don't think I'd be able too as I currently am." The trio fell silent.

            A few minutes later they were standing in front of the main computer, Dan's fingers furiously pounding at the keys.

 "So, uh," Zero began, trying to make conversation, "what exactly does your girlfriend look like?"

"She's the most beautiful person you could ever see; Hair like fire, blue eyes that you could swim in and a great personality. Not the best cook in the world but not the worst."

            The data on screen kept on getting narrower as Dan inputted more and more data. Finally they were left with only one entry. "Bingo." Dan punched up the screen and a full bio appeared. The face of a classic elderly woman appeared, wrinkles, hair in a bun, and the rest.

"Oh Kate, time has been friendlier to you then me…"

"Where does she live," asked X.

"256 Battery Drive Richardell, Washington. Two hours drive from here judging by the map. Do you guys have a motor pool or something? I don't want to take public transportation."

The two hunters looked at each other, big grins on their faces.

"Oh, we've got a motor pool. And it's second to none." Zero said, his eyes sparkling for the same reason. They both loved using the landchasers whenever they had an excuse.

"Great, let's get down there." Dan followed X and Zero out the door and all the way down. The motor pool was in its usual condition; parts and grease everywhere, broken down vehicles being worked on by low level mechanics, and above all, that classic garage smell permeating everywhere.

"So, what kind of vehicle do you want to take? We've got landchasers, cars, mechs; you name it we got it." Zero said, stretching his arm over the whole line transportation machines.

"Got any bikes?" X's jaw dropped.

"You drive a motorcycle!?" Dan glanced at him and grinned. "Hell yeah."

            Zero's eyes glimmered even more. "Well in that case, there're over here on the left." They walked over.

"Pick one." Lined up before them was at least two dozen motorcycles, all built for the same purpose: speed. Dan looked over them all, not finding a single one that suited his tastes. Then he noticed one in the back, covered by a tarp.

            Curious, he walked over and pulled the brown plastic off. Dan grinned.

"Now THIS is what I'm taking." X and Zero nearly passed out from what they saw.

"THAT is a 1994 Harley Davidson with a micro-fusion engine in place of the old gasoline burning one, completely restored with extreme attention to detail."

"Damn right and a rookie sure as hell ain't taking my beauty out!"

            The trio turned at the sound of the voice. Standing ten feet away was none other than Cleo, head mechanic around MHHQ. Planted on top of her head were a pair of thick welding glasses and a work smock covered her goldenrod armor.

"I worked on that baby for two years trying to get into perfect condition. If you think that I'm going to let you take it out, then you've-"

"-got another thing coming. Jeez lady, you sound just like my Mom." Cleo's face turned a deep red.

"Just because you happen to have attained celebrity status around here doesn't mean that you can do whatever the hell you want. I out-rank you and I will put your red ass into detention." Then it was Dan's turn to become red.

"Wrong. I am NOT a Hunter. I just have nowhere else to go."

            Cleo waved her hand.

"That may be, but I'm still not letting you take my baby out!"

"Cleo…" X interrupted.

"Its okay, Zero and I are going with him." Cleo opened her mouth in protest but X cut her off. "And I can pull rank on this matter." Cleo looked like she was ready to scream, but managed to keep a lid on her boiling anger.

"Fine, but if red-boy over totals it, I'm going to have Cain take its value out of both yours and Zero's salary!"

            She took a few steps forward until she was right up against X's face. Narrowing her eyes, she gave him a stare that only a pissed off female could give.

"And I have its value calculated right down to the penny." Cleo spun around on her heel and marched back over to the Hawk mech in repair. X blinked a few times before returning to his senses. Zero chuckled.

"She's normally as pleasant as a puppy but I guess she does have a limit on friendliness."

            X and Zero picked out a pair of landchasers that were in good condition and Dan started up the Harley. While Zero punched in the bay access codes, Dan took off his helmet and stared at it.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about remembering to put one on all the time," he mumbled to himself. The bay door ahead of him slowly receded into the ceiling. The early morning sun spilt into the room, the only shadows cast by the three people who speeded out onto the open road.

            X and Zero talked to each other over their comms while the cut off Dan was absorbed in the sheer freedom that the open road gave him. It was unknown to anyone that a major change had come over Dan. With the wind blowing in his face and plenty of time to kill, his mind drifted off into the past.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

            "HIKE!" The two opposing factions rammed into each other, each matched in strength but still trying to push the other back. The blue team's quarterback took two hops backward before tossing the oval shaped football into the sky. The pigskin spiraled perfectly through the air right towards the receiving player. He reached his hands upward, ready to receive the prize.

Until an unnoticed player wearing a red jersey came out and intercepted the ball.

            The player in red took off towards his endzone while the pissed off player in blue gave chase. The red player ran past the quickly dispersing mob, his legs pumping furiously. He chanced a glance behind him and saw three blue clad giants catching up rather quickly. He reached deep down and managed to bring out a little more speed. Only twenty yards left to go.

            Eighteen yards. Fifteen yards. Thirteen…

Finally the three blue players caught up with him and knocked him down. The volunteer referee on the sidelines blew his whistle, signaling the end of the play. The player in red squeezed out off the bodies pressing against him and walked over to the bench.

            The assistant couch clapped his hands and smiled at the red player. "Good job Parker!" Dan merely nodded and went over to the huddle, unaware that he was being watched.

"You were a jock?"

"So what if I was?"

"You just don't seem like the type."

"You of all people should know that looks can be deceiving." The first figure didn't have a reply and looked back down.

"Are you gonna go and talk to yourself?" The second figure would have given him the glare of death, but his shades would block it from sight.

"Definitely not, I might screw up the time/space continuum or some other Star Trekish bullshit." The first figure chuckled.

"It just would've been a bit interesting, that's all." The two figures watched silently as the high school football team finished their scrimmage.

"Look Blues, there has to be a reason that you followed me. You and I are too much alike for me to not know that." The Red Raider of 20XX looked at his companion and grinned.

"I knew I couldn't fool my biggest fan. Wait here a moment." Blues walked behind a ventilation fan and retrieved an object wrapped in a paper bag.

"Here" He tossed the bag to the figure.

"I saw it in a store and thought of you." The figure looked at Blues for a moment before opening the bag.

Inside was a matching yellow scarf.

            The figure grinned. "Thanks a lot Blues." The figure wrapped it around his neck twice and threw the rest behind him. A gust of wind blew over the town rooftops, sending the scarf into a slight flutter. A familiar tune began to be whistled from down below.

"I guess its time to go."

"Yeah." The figure looked down for one moment before activating his warp generator and disappeared.

            Dan stopped whistling and looked up. He could swear that he saw the sun reflect off of something for just a moment. All he saw however was just an old twentieth century warehouse, creaking in the wind. He shrugged and continued walking the two blocks to his house, whistling all the way.

            The walk home was uneventful, just as Dan liked. He wasn't one for wide open places or exciting events. He much preferred to have things stay the same. If he had the choice between a short, wild life and a long, dull one, he would choose the latter.

            The door on his off blue modern home stood wide open, setting off alarms in Dan's head. He quickly hid himself behind a bush and slung off his duffle bag. Moving aside his various homework assignments, he drew out a single item. A pistol, the same one he had used to take out that robot almost two years ago.

            Dan knew that it was a big risk taking it to school with him but brought it anyways. Some things in life just could not be controlled. Checking to make sure the battery was still charged, he flicked the safety off and jogged to his house. He looked inside the windows and saw exactly what he expected to.

'We've been robbed.'

            Sighing, Dan put the safety back on the weapon and retrieved his bag. It was too late to do anything know, the burglar having left long ago. Walking inside he tossed the bag onto the couch and dialed the police. The only thing to do now was fill out a report. "Dan… Dan…"

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

 "Dan!"

            Dan was shaken out of his daydream by the sound of X yelling over the wind.

"What," he yelled back.

"We're almost there."

"Thanks." Zero cast a glance over at X.

"Do you know how they're going to react when they see each other," he asked over the comm.

"We can only hope for the best."

            A few minutes later the trio pulled up in front of a beautiful replica of a Victorian house. Numerous bushes adorned the three acre property and a small flower garden could be seen off to the side by an observatory. Dan was the first to dismount and start walking up the pathway to the front door. The stoop was made of a finely crafted duricrete wall at least eighteen inches think.

            "Holy shit, talk about class." Zero commented in awe. "What'd she do, win the lotto?" X gave Zero one of his 'shut the hell up now' glances. Zero complied. Dan raised his hand to cherry oak door and stopped. His throat had suddenly gone dry and panic gripped him. 'What if' scenarios began playing through his head and he couldn't break free. He backed up.

"X, Zero, you knock. I can't."

            The two Hunters glanced at each other and shrugged. They stepped in front of Dan and X knocked. Several seconds went by before a young man opened the door.

"What do you want," he asked, his obvious distain for the two reploids apparent. X shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"Is your Grandmother home?" The man eyed them suspiciously before turning around and yelling for her.

            He left and went back to whatever he was doing before. Soon an elderly woman's face appeared.

"Can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Megaman X and this is my friend Zero."

"Hello."

"The famous Maverick Hunters?"

"That's us." The woman smiled warmly and opened the front door all the way.

"Well what can I do for you gentlemen?"

"We have someone with us who would like to speak to you. Zero?" The Crimson Hunter nodded and stepped aside to reveal Dan to the woman. Dan swallowed and took a deep breath.

"Hi Kate, it's been a long time." Kate stared at him, not recognizing him.

            Dan slowly removed his helmet and let it drop to the ground below him. Kate's face lit up and she reached out to touch his face.

"Danny… is it really you?" Dan smiled and took hold of her hand.

"It's me." X smiled at the touching reunion. Zero couldn't help but think about Iris.

Then everything took a Shakespearean turn.

            Kate let out a gasp and fell backwards onto the patio.

"KATE!" Dan rushed over and knelt down beside her.

"Oh, God, please no…" Kate's grandson suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Grandma! What the hell did you do you reploid piece of shit!?" Dan looked up at him, fury burning in his eyes.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that! If I hadn't been shot, I would be your grandfather!"

"Go to hell you son of a bitch!" The man dashed back inside to call the ambulance. Dan looked down at Kate's body and felt despair return. "Kate, no…" He buried his face in his hands and cried, his emotions overpowering him. He fixed his gaze upon the heavens and screamed out his grief.

            In that instant something snapped inside of him. Dan reared back his right fist and punched right through the patio wall. X and Zero, who had just stood by helpless in this matter, gawked at what Dan had done. Dan withdrew his hand, unmindful of what he had done. He just wanted to go home. And something deep inside him responded.

            In a flash of red light, Dan was gone.


	7. Descent

_I'm back, still looking for a beta reader._

            The dark clouds that had been hanging ominously on the horizon began to move in towards the city. Meteorologists predicted that it would be a heavy storm of the likes not seen for many decades. But there was something else in the air. No one person could put his finger on it, but it was there. And for Maverick Hunters X and Zero, the atmosphere fit in perfectly with their mood and the report they were giving to Cain.

            They stood in his office, the old commander of the hunters sat at his desk, listening intently on the events that transpired with Dan's reunion with his former fiancé. Occasionally he would ask a question about either one of the Hunters' opinions, but mostly stayed silent. When X and Zero had finished, Cain leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling in deep thought. X and Zero exchanged nervous glances. For a brief moment that morning, it seemed as if Dan would finally be able to overcome his seclusion and build a new life for himself. Now he would probably withdraw even more.

"This is not good." Cain said, breaking the silence, his voice uncharacteristically gruff.

"Dan's adjustment has come even sooner than I anticipated, most likely onset by the emotional trauma he went through." The old man grunted slightly as he stood up, leaning on his cane for support. He walked over to Sigma II's bowl and sprinkled a little bit of food for the goldfish in it.

"And this comes at the most inopportune time."

            X looked at Dr. Cain questionably.

"How is that?" Cain sighed and looked at the two hunters with a grave appearance on his face.

"The press has been hounding me for a week now, trying their damnest to get an interview with 'the newly discovered protoreploid'. I've been holding them back, saying that I was still running tests, but no longer. If I don't show them Dan, they're going to raise hell in the courts."

            X and Zero moaned in unison at the news.

"This is nuts." Zero shook his head back and forth. "If we throw Dan to the wolves now, they will tear him into pieces. Not to mention that extremist religious assholes will be up-in-arms about him as well." X nodded in agreement.

"And that's not even the worst of it," Cain began, "Emilius Cristoph of the GDC is demanding that I send him a profile of Dan as well. And we all know how much of a racist bigot he is." X and Zero nodded grimly.

            Zero folded his arms across his chest and looked at the floor.

"So what do we do?" He asked without even looking up. Cain took a deep breath.

"At any rate we have to find Dan. I can hold off on Cristoph's demand for a while longer, so thank God for small favors."

"Do you have any idea where to find him," X asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Cain replied, walking over to the big monitor at the back of his office.

"I ran a check on Dan's last known address before whatever happened that made him a reploid." He explained as he called up a stored file.

"Is that legal," X queried. Cain shook his head.

"Not really but there was no other way for me to find out. After Mount St. Helens erupted, all other documentation was destroyed." The screen changed, showing an old map of the city before the eruption. A section in a condominium complex was highlighted.

"Now this," Cain began, "is where Dan's last place of residence was at. If we compare this with a current map of the city, we should get at least an idea of where he might have warped to." He punched in a few more entries and a ghost image of the current city appeared.

"Oh this is great," Zero said sarcastically. "He's in an abandoned apartment complex."

            X suddenly snapped at his friend. "Zero would you knock it off?! We need to find him and find him soon." Zero and Cain stared in surprise at X's outburst. The Blue Bomber huffed once before turning around and heading towards the door. As it opened up, he stopped and looked at the floor.

"I know Dan doesn't think so, but as far as I'm concerned, he's my brother and the only family I've got." X turned and faced Cain and Zero who were just beginning to understand exactly how much this whole event was affecting him.

"Even if he doesn't want me too, I'm going to be there for him." And with that, X walked out the door.

            Zero and Cain stood there in an uncomfortable silence for several moments. Zero then sighed and shook his head before turning towards Cain. "I'd better go with him." Cain nodded.

"I agree. Both Dan and X need emotional support although I fear that there'll be none for Dan." Zero nodded glumly before catching up with X.

            The aged creator of the reploid race watched Zero exit his office. Sighing, he leaned on his walking cane and put a hand up to his throbbing forehead. 'I need a stiff drink.'

            Zero looked around the hall outside of Cain's office. X couldn't have gone that far in this short a time. In fact, he spotted the Blue Bomber standing not far down the hall with his head resting against the wall. Zero walked over and stood by his friend in an uneasy silence. A silence that was only broken several moments later by X.

"Zero… I'm sorry about before. About snapping at you and Cain like that."

"Hey, it's alright pal," Zero replied with a shrug. "Everyone loses their cool now and then. Except when I do, heads usually roll; literally."

            X smiled, ever so slightly.

"Yeah, I've seen that plenty of times." They both shared a short, tense laugh before returning to the matter on hand.

"We should get going soon, before the storm hits," Zero said, leaning on the wall next to X.

"I know. But the storm is what I'm concerned about now."

Zero nodded once, knowing that X was referring to the publicity that Dan would be forced to face.

            X took a deep breath and stood up straight again. "We should change out of our armor and into something more casual. Anyone still living in that area of the city probably wouldn't react well to the sight of two fully armed Hunters."

"Good idea," Zero replied as he activated his warp generator. In seconds, he was changed into a pair of jeans, a white shirt, a bright red sweat jacket and large boots. X wore something similar except he had a plain grey jacket on and a blue baseball cap with the New York Yankees symbol on it.

            Zero raised an eyebrow at the sight of the hat. "I thought you liked the Seattle Mariners," he asked. X shrugged his shoulders.

"I changed my mind. Now let's get going." And in a flash of red and grey light, X and Zero were gone.

            The two Hunters rematerialized just outside of the building where Dan might've warped to. The building itself was gray, just like the surrounding neighborhood, its glass doors shattered long ago with the remaining pieces strewn about the surrounding ground. Several shops reminiscent of late twentieth-century cities stood silent and a cold wind blew through the empty streets. X and Zero reflexively pulled their jackets closer around their bodies.

"Let's get inside." X said with a hint of urgency in his voice that Zero didn't quite understand why was there.

"Be careful as we look Zero. Dan might've flipped completely and attack us."

"Last night I wouldn't have worried so much about that. But after seeing him punch through that duricrete wall a little while ago…" Zero let himself trail off as the implications were clear.

            X was the first inside the abandoned complex. The check-in desk had a think layer of dust on it as did the mail slots and video monitors behind it. The place was in shambles, but still had the feeling of use for some reason. X guessed that some of the poorer residents of the city made their home here.

            Zero's footsteps crunched the glass into even smaller pieces as he entered right behind X. They stood there in silence for a moment before Zero spoke up.

"How are we going to do this?"

"Floor by floor, I'll look in the right wing and you look in the left. We'll meet back here when we finish, alright?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

            X could hear Zero opening each of the doors in his section. X in the meantime was just wandering around his area in a kind of zombie-like daze.

            More out of an autonomic action, X opened the large double doors leading into the assembly room that residents once might've gathered and talked about the day's events over a cup of coffee. Now it was like the rest of the building; dark, dismal and dust covered, void of any furniture.

            "Where are you Dan," X quietly asked himself. Turning around he went to look in the other areas. Each room was the same. The only things that could be found were scraps of newspapers from long ago, mice, roaches and other pests like that, and the occasional cardboard box left behind by the former occupant. And with each empty room, X began to get more and more desperate.

            'Dammit Dan, don't do this. If you leave right now, the world will tear you into pieces before you far. You need our help.'

            Zero popped his head past another door and looked around.

'Jeez is this place empty. And it's only the first floor. How many were there? Seven? Eight? Maybe I should go back outside and count.' He shook his head and left to look in another room.

            "Dan why couldn't you have picked a better place to warp to…," Zero said to himself as he continued his search. He knew that Dan probably didn't realize what he did. Hell, before last night he didn't even know that he could take his helmet off.

            Zero shook his head to clear it of his stray thoughts. 'Come on Zero, concentrate. Dan is X's friend. You have to find him, not get lost in your thoughts.'

            X and Zero reconvened at the lobby. X was the first to speak up.

"Did you find him?"

"Nope. If he's here, he's on one of the upper floors."

            X nodded his head. "Alright, we'll start checking them. The stairs are over this way." He said, motioning with his head in the stairs general direction.

"Let's get going then. I want to find Dan and get out of here as soon as possible."

            X roughly stopped Zero with his hand. Zero stumbled back a step before looking at X in confusion.

"What the hell's wrong with you," X shouted with anger in his voice. "Dan needs our help. If we just leave him be then he won't survive this. I don't want to lose him Zero; he's my brother. And all you care about is getting back home."

            Zero didn't have anything to say. There was nothing he could say to prove X wrong. He looked down at the floor.

"Yeah, you're right X. I didn't mean for it to sound like that but it's true." Then he looked up into his X's eyes. "But I do want to find him. He's a good person and I'd like to have him as friend." Then he gave X a slim smirk. "And after he gets used to his body, I'd like to run him through a few training sims." X sighed. "Knowing you, you'd put him through the level three beam saber course on his first time." Zero gave X a full blown grin.

"Now that you mention it, that wouldn't be a bad idea." The Blue Bomber shook his head.

"Let's save it for until AFTER we find him. Then we let him decide. He may not even want to be a Hunter."

            The next hour was spent looking through an additional six floors. X was starting to think that Dan really had wandered off after he got there. He wasn't even sure if his mind could take it. No human could be warped because the reconstruction would scramble their brains and the person would become psychotic. It could only work on machines.

            Zero opened the door to yet another identical room.

'Jesus Christ, are we ever going to find him?' He started closing the door and then he spotted something. The dust on the floor had recently been disturbed. Large reploid sized footprints lead into a back room just out of view.

"Holy cow… X! I think I found him!" X's footsteps came sounding through the hallway and he stopped just short of Zero.

"Where is he," X eagerly asked.

"In here," Zero replied, pointing at the footsteps.

            X pushed Zero aside and slowly walked into the room. The footprints lead into an adjoining bedroom.

"Dan? Are you there?" X's voice was laden with worry; worry that was soon washed away by relief.

            Dan was sitting in the corner of the room with his legs drawn up to his chest, slightly rocking back and forth. Occasionally what sounded like whistle emerged from his lips. X leaned back and motioned for Zero to come inside. Zero walked in and stood in the doorway while X kneeled beside Dan.

"Dan, are you okay?" X got no response.

"Come on Dan, let's get out of here and back to MHHQ. Cain's worried about you as well."

            And then Dan stopped whistling and slowly turned his head to look at X. X's heart sunk to his feet when he looked into Dan's eyes.           

            Not even the slightest bit of light reflected in them. They were dead, even worse then the previous night.

"It's all my fault X… it's all my fault," Dan whispered just loud enough for X and Zero to hear.

"What're you talking about Dan? Nothing's your fault." X said with a small smile on his face hoping to make Dan feel better.

"Kate's dead… and it's all my fault. If I had just left her alone… then she wouldn't have died. It's all my fault…" He began to trail off and whistle again.

"Dan, listen me." X said, grabbing him roughly.

"It wasn't your fault. Yes, she was old. Yes, she might've had a heart condition. But it **was not your fault**. Kate was happy when she saw you. You knew that."

"It doesn't matter. Seeing me caused her death. It's all my fault."

            X didn't know what to say. He couldn't think of anything to say that would snap Dan out of his trance.

"Dan I know exactly what you're feeling."

            X looked back at Zero, leaning against the doorframe and looking down.

"Really? I fail to see how." Dan replied with bitterness starting to seep into his voice.

"During… the fourth Maverick Uprising a few months ago, I lost someone precious to me. Her name's Iris." Zero's eyes began to slightly mist.

            "For weeks I was inconsolable, I spent all my time and money drowning my sorrow in cheap booze. You see Dan, I was forced to kill Iris. I didn't want to but if I didn't, she would kill me.

            "Eventually with X's help, I began to realize I couldn't stay like that forever. I still had reasons to live. That's how I know what you're going through."

            For a few moments, the room was silent.

"Okay, so maybe I was wrong," Dan said, his voice gaining some strength.

"And we're here to help you get through this Dan," X replied while he inwardly breathed in relief. "Come on, let's get out of here and back to MHHQ. It's safer there than it is out here."

            X helped Dan off the floor. The man sighed and looked down.

"I don't even know how I got here, let alone how to get back."

"You got here by warping. Dr. Light gave you a warp generator as well."

"How did I use it?"

"Well… I don't know. What was the last thing you were thinking before you ended up here?"

"I was… wishing that I was home."

 "Then why don't you try wishing yourself back in your room?" Zero suggested. Dan simply shrugged.

"Guess it's worth a shot."

            Dan closed his eyes and concentrated hard. He pictured his room back at MHHQ. It wasn't working so he thought of specific details, a context. He thought about his bed, his nightstand, the clock, and the two weeks he spent there just staring into space… and in a feeling akin to pins and needles all over his body, he vanished in red light.

            X and Zero both sighed heavily in relief.

"Well all things considered, that went rather smoothly, don't you think so X?" The Blue Bomber just nodded once.

"Yeah, all things considered. But we didn't tell Dan what he's facing when he gets back."

"If we did that, we wouldn't have been able to pry him loose. He's going to have one hell of a surprise."

"Then we should go and help him get prepared." Zero nodded in agreement.

            After lingering around for a moment longer, the two hunters warped back as well, rematerializing just outside of Dan's room. X made the first move by opening the door. Inside, Dan was sitting on his bed again in the same exact way he spent the previous weeks. X felt his heart plummet again.

'Dammit Dan, don't do this again.' Glancing over at Zero, X knew that he was thinking along the same lines. Only he took a more direct approach to solving the problem. Taking only two steps forward, Zero grabbed Dan by the right shoulder, getting his attention.

"Come on, Cain wants to see you. It's important."

            At first, Dan didn't react. He just sat there staring at Zero. Then he slowly got up and walked aimlessly out the door. Zero and X followed, guiding him down the hallways and to Cain's office. The good doctor had just finished downing a shot of Scotch when the trio entered the room. The door slid shut behind them and they walked up to his desk.

"You found him… good." Cain said with a very relieved voice. He looked at X and Zero.

"Did you tell him?" The two reploids shook their heads.

"Tell me what?" Dan interjected, sounding somewhat annoyed.

"I've been holding it off ever since I found your capsule Dan, but I can't any longer; the press wants an interview with you."

            Suddenly Dan's face contorted with anger. "Fucking bastards!" Whirling around almost too fast for anyone to follow, Dan reared back his right fist and clocked Zero right across his chin. The Crimson Hunter was sent flying backwards, impacting the door. People walking outside jumped in surprise as Zero's body dented the entrance while inside he slumped to the floor unconscious.

            Dan was about to do the same thing to X, but the reploid was prepared and with his combat experience and hand-to-hand training, easily blocked all the blows. But Dan still kept striking out at him.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU DAN!?!" X shouted out.

"YOU ASSHOLES LIED TO ME! PRETENDING TO SYMPATHIZE JUST SO YOU CAN GET ME BACK HERE!!" Tears started to well once more in Dan's eyes but his attack just got stronger. "YOU SAID ALL THAT BULLSHIT TO ME ABOUT KATE'S DEATH NOT BEING MY FAULT!"

"WE WEREN'T LYING! IT STILL ISN'T YOUR FAULT!"

"BUT YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ME! YOU DON'T CARE…"

            Dan slowly stopped punching as he broke out in heavy sobs. "You don't care… you don't…" He finally stopped throwing his fists and fell onto his knees, burying his face in his hands. X shut his eyes and turned away. He hated seeing Dan like this.

"Dammit… God **dammit**!" X punched the wall once. 'This isn't fair! Dan should be back with his ex-fiancée, not here at MHHQ!'

            Dr. Cain sighed heavily and put a hand up to his forehead once again.


	8. Reaction

_I've been waiting since Monday for my beta reader to reply and he hasn't. My patience has worn out. But he's reading this I still value your feedback._

            _One week later…_

            The press conference room was a-buzz with excitement. Reporters from all over the world were gathered at MHHQ as well as a few members of the scientific community. Dr. Cain announced the previous day that he was finally going public with the details of the protoreploid that he had found a few weeks ago and anyone that could be present was. One reporter by the name of Brian Carolina was standing in the center of the room, waiting anxiously like everyone else.

"Hey Brian!"

            The reporter looked behind him to see a friend of his pushing through the masses to meet him.

"Matt, glad to see you could make it." The two warmly shook hands.

"Thanks for the press ID you gave me."

"No problem, but keep it down. If my boss finds out, I could get fired."

"Sure, sorry."

            The two looked at the platform in the front of the room. A red curtain was draped across the back and two reploids could be seen standing within the shadows to the left. The steel podium in the center, once home to dozens of microphones, stood empty save for a datapad that contained the outline of Cain's speech. Reporters no longer carried bulky equipment that snapped photos, recorded speeches, or took footage. That was all done by small drones that the reporters mounted on the walls or hung from the ceiling. The only thing a reporter carried was his personal datapad to jot down notes and such.

"So Brian, what have you heard of this reploid?"

"Rumors mainly. None of it seemed very likely. One guy said that upon activation, it knew all knowledge that could be known."

"That's bullshit."

"Exactly, but today we find out exactly."

            Matt nodded and looked into the shadows to the curtain's left.

"So when's Dr. Cain going to make his appearance?"

"It should be anytime now."

"I sure hope so. I don't want to be waiting around for an hour."

"It's a good thing you never became a reporter then. I've been standing for an hour and a half."

            Matt was about to make a comment on the length of time when Cain walked out from behind the curtain. All ambient noise in the room ceased as the aged man assumed his position behind the podium. Taking a deep breath, Cain activated his datapad and began the conference.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the press, you all by now are wondering about the reploid I discovered. Many of you have heard rumors concerning what he is like. I can assure you all that every single one is false. However, I cannot explain you to what he is like. Like all of us, he is a unique individual with his own set of beliefs and ideals."

            During Cain's pause, a flurry of reporters shouted out questions to the aged man. An expression of desperation crossed his face for a moment before it fell back to its previous blank one. Looking out over the crowd, he picked a reporter from the New York Times.

"Doctor, is this reploid structurally the same as Megaman X?"

"In some ways yes he is."

"Do you mean to say that he's more advanced?"

"Without a doubt, that is true. However, I must once again bow to the genius of Dr. Thomas Light. I could not fully duplicate the construction of X and I have barely been able to scratch the surface of this one's makeup." For a moment there, Cain's apprehension disappeared, replaced by a wonder and excitement equal to the assembled crowd's.

            The reporters once again began to assault him with questions but he raised both hands and signaled for the multitude to calm down.

"I cannot answer every question you ask me for there is much I do not know."

            Cain continued his best at calming the reporters for the upcoming event of the protoreploid's first public appearance. Brian looked into the shadows behind the curtain and saw three figures conversing. Squinting his eyes in the hopes of seeing better, he saw that the tallest of the figures was rubbing his chin. Standing to his side was another, shorter figure that only came up to the first figure's shoulders.

            The third figure was the apparent recipient of the discussion. He was in-between in height judging by the way he would've looked if he was standing up straight. All of a sudden, the third figure assumed a hostile stance against the other two. One had seemingly said something that he took to offense and was not too pleased about it.

'Damn, I wish I knew what was being said.' Brian thought. At that moment, Cain cleared his throat loudly over the sound system.

"I cannot answer your question any further so without further delay, I present the protoreploid I discovered." Cain stepped back and motioned to the side of the platform. Brian could not believe his eyes when he saw Megaman X and Zero step forth from behind there. Zero was rubbing his chin absently mindedly not so much as it physically hurt, but because it was the source of a bruised ego. X had a troubled expression on his face. And third figure was undoubtedly the protoreploid.

Brian raised an eyebrow at his design.

'Geez, Dr. Light must've been going senile when his exterior was made. Skin colored upper arms, thighs, and waist isn't a way to impress people. And his helmet and chest plate are both plain.' He shook his head.

"Well at least the red armor isn't all that bad." He mumbled. X and Zero flanked the platform while the protoreploid stepped up to the podium and faced the anxious crowd. It was then that Brian noticed that his appearance seemed haggard, like he didn't want to be there. His eyes were dull and very little light shone from within them while his facial features were slightly darkened.

            The protoreploid opened his mouth to say something, hesitated, then turned to Cain. The two exchanged words that the drones didn't pick up. It seemed to Brian that the protoreploid was asking Cain a question, in which he responded to and nodded in encouragement. Since not a peep was heard from the audience, the silence in the room was almost deafening. The protoreploid turned back to the people and spoke.

"I… I really don't know what to say. I never suspected that I'd be standing in front of the press. I guess I should start with my name. I'm Dan Parker." He paused, waiting for some sort of response.

            Except there was none. It was odd for a reploid to have a human name and almost unheard of for one to have a last name. And this one had both. Brian looked around slowly, seeing that many of the people were still listening in a shocked silence. The few scientists in the crowd were jotting down notes and one was making a rough sketch of Dan's appearance.

            Dan swallowed hard. The response he was getting didn't seem very encouraging to him. Without any other reasonable option, he asked for someone to give him a question. Brian obliged.

"Why do you have a human name?" And Dan's response was one that shocked the world.

"Because that's what I was."

            On the opposite side of the country, Emilius Cristoph was watching the press conference with great interest in his mind and scowled expression on his face at Dan's last statement. The holoscreen showed the reporters suddenly assailing the beleaguered Dan with questions along the line of, "Did Dr. Light program you to think that?" and "If that's true, why are you now a reploid?"

            Cristoph lowered the volume as his phone began to ring. Clearing his throat, he put on his diplomatic attitude as he picked up the receiver.

"Emilius Cristoph's residence, Cristoph speaking."

"Drop the air Cristoph and switch to the secure line."

            Cristoph recognized the voice on the other end and pressed a hidden button on the phone's side.

"Alright, the line is safe Coleman." He spoke into the mouthpiece, his voice having assumed a serious, business tone.

"I hope you're watching the recent breaking news."

"Of course."

"Light truly is a bastard. First he defies God by building those robots that nearly proved to be end of the human race. Granted he at least had the foresight implement the Three Laws into them but Wily proved that was little deterrence."

"I know my history Coleman."

"I know, I know. We thought reploids were bad enough but **this**… this takes the proverbial cake. He turned a beautiful human being into an ugly, damned machine."

            Cristoph shook his head in disapproval at the ranting. Coleman had always been an emotional individual who always let that get in the way of rational thought. On the other end, Coleman took a deep breath to clear his head and get himself under control.

"What do we do," he asked.

"Right now, we simply watch the world's reaction. We may control the GDC but because of that old man Cain, the Maverick Hunters are still out of our grasp. Of course I'll have to check this with the High Council but I feel that they'll agree with my decision."

"Understood, should I notify them of your coming?"

"No, I'll have relay my thoughts on this through another. The GDC council hasn't dismissed yet and I don't want to chance any suspicions."

"Of course, do you want me to tell them?"

"No, I have someone else in mind." That was a lie of course. Simply put, Cristoph didn't trust Coleman to not put a spin on things.

            Before Coleman could respond, Cristoph hung up the phone and turned the security off. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling in deep thought.

'One thing's for certain. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day.'

            The conference ended an hour later with Dan exiting the building in a neutral mood. That was an improvement, considering the events that had happened during the past few weeks. The reporters and scientists didn't get as many answers as they would've liked but still left pretty well satisfied and shocked. Cain accompanied by Dan, X, and Zero entered a rented limousine and drove off back towards the Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Outside, the storm clouds above finally started empting their vast contents of rain upon the earth.

"Well," Cain started, resting in his faux leather seat, "all things considered that went rather well."

X and Zero nodded in agreement. Dan ignored them however and just stared out the window.

X and Cain exchanged glances.

"So Dan, do you have any other family," X hesitatingly asked. Dan's reply was short.

"No."

            X looked at the floor and closed his eyes. "Come on Dan, this isn't healthy. You have to snap out of it," he muttered, apparently too loud as Dan heard him.

"Shut the fuck up you liar."

"Hey! Now that's enough Dan," Cain snapped. Dan looked at him loathingly.

"Why the hell do you care? All you want to see is how my body works."

            Zero –for once- stayed silent which helped things. The rest of the ride continued without a word, but the air was thick with tension waiting to break loose any moment. And the moment they got in sight of MHHQ, a whole mob could be seen gathered in front. The police were dressed in full riot gear, warning the rabble to get back while inside the headquarters security was arming themselves with non-lethal weapons. The throng was shouting hate laced messages to the Hunters while a few signs were held displaying very graphic images of what they intended to do Dan.

            Cain saw the crowd, frowned deeply, and leaned towards the driver.

"Take us around back," he said, but before the driver could execute that, the mob recognized the limo as belonging to Cain. They surged forth and overwhelmed the police, immediately crowding around the car. Threats laced with blood erupted from their mouths as they banged on the limo with their bare hands (or signs for those that had them).

            At once, the security guards burst through the doors of MHHQ, weapons drawn but all of them hesitant to shoot. While they certainly had the authority and right to do so, they knew that these people would declare them Mavericks if they did. Shouting warnings and pointing their weapons at the unruly mob, they assisted the police in pushing the mass of rioters back for the limo's occupants to safely disembark.

            While X, Zero and Cain each had very liberal remarks tossed at them, the vilest ones came bearing down on Dan as soon as he exited the vehicle. And he did not react to well to it. X and Zero each quickly grabbed an arm of Dan's as he started shouting equally nasty retorts at the crowd while trying to rush them. Several of the people in the mob began throwing random objects at the three individuals; cans, rocks, broken pieces of brick, things like that. None of them hit and with Cain holding the front door open, the trio made it inside with the security force following in suit.

            After they walked in a few steps and Cain locked the door, the two Hunters released their hold on Dan. The red armored man suddenly lost the spark that fired within him before and reverted back to his depressed self.

"What the hell's wrong up with you Dan? Why'd you try to go after those people? If Zero and I hadn't stopped you, you'd have hurt them and that'd be the end! You'd be proclaimed a maverick and shot!"

"Are you really that fucking stupid X?!?" Dan looked at the Blue Bomber. "I didn't ask for any of this shit! I woke up three weeks ago like this!" He looked away. "If I had a choice… I would've rather DIED on that road." Suddenly a great weight felt like it was lifted off of Dan's shoulders. But all he did was sag them. Without so much as a word, he walked off down the halls.

            X tried to go after him but Zero placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Let him go," he quietly said. "I have an idea what he's going through right now. The best thing is just to leave him be." X looked at his best friend and sighed.

"I hate this Zero. The man I consider my brother is going through hell," he bowed his head, "and there's nothing I can do."

            Time passed and night fell. After several hours of ranting and raving, the mob outside dispersed most of them because their lives interfered but there were those that would've stayed for days upon end. X and Zero were both finishing up back logged paperwork. Cain attended to some management duties. Dan slept in his room. The covers underneath him were all strewn about as he was tossing in his sleep. He was reliving his death.

            Dan was walking down the blacktop road of the city of New Tokyo, Washington. After World War III, several prominent Japanese investors helped rebuild the war torn city, so they renamed it to that in their honor (as well as several other landmarks). His spirit soared above the clouds as he whistled a few notes from that song he learned from the red robot.

'Kate, you are making me the luckiest man on earth. Two more weeks and I can kiss my status as a single man goodbye without a single regret.' He stopped for a moment and looked up at the stars. In his state of pure bliss, he thought that none of them looked as pretty as the diamond he gave Kate four months ago.

"Hey dude, you lost?"

            Dan looked back down to see a quartet of men walk up to him. Everything about them, their hair, their cloths, the way they walked, everything just screamed out gang. Dan put on a stone hard expression.

"No, I know exactly where I am." He started to turn around when one of the gang members pulled out a replicate Japanese throwing star.

In the real world, Dan's right hand began to twitch.

"Just give us your money and you'll walk away from this punk," the apparent leader of the group said. Dan faced them, his feet shoulder length apart. One of the lackeys sneered at Dan.

"Yeah, you'll walk away. A few cuts and bruises maybe, but you'll live." The rest of the gang laughed.

Dan turned onto his back as his right hand suddenly locked straight and receded into his forearm. A moment later, the barrel of a buster came out.

Dan reached for his right pocket. 'I only have one chance at this,' he grimly thought. All of a sudden, his hand grasped the grip of his pistol. He raised it at the gang, only to see the leader with his own firearm drawn. Two bullets buried themselves inside Dan's torso; one is his gut and the other in his right lung.

"Stupid asshole," he heard the gang leader say. Dan heard footsteps come over to him and pull out his wallet. He felt his own blood stain his clothes and some touched his lips.

"This was a waste of time. Bastard doesn't even have a single buck on him." The leader tossed the wallet down beside Dan. "Let's get out of here and pick up some girls."

Inside Dan's room, a humming began to be heard. Emanating from Dan's buster, the hum grew in intensity and after a period of four seconds, reached its peak.

Dan heard the thugs start to walk away. After a few moments, he slowly pushed himself off the ground. He tasted blood in his mouth and his stomach felt like it was on fire but both paled before the fire that burned in his eyes. They looked around, seeking a weapon of some sort to use. They spotted a discarded section of piping left over from a past construction on the side of the road.

'Gotta stop them… make those bastards pay…'

            He walked over to the where the poles laid, his pain completely forgotten. Picking a section up in his hands, he put one foot back. Remembering his time on the javelin team in high school back in his second home in Iowa, he held it on its center of gravity. Taking two running steps, he tossed it through the air. It whistled as it traveled, finally imbedding in the thigh of one of his attackers. A split second later, the leader was turned around with his pistol drawn again.

"Mother fucker!" He shouted, pointing the barrel at Dan. One shot was fired, hitting Dan's left leg.

_No…_

Another shot erupted, this one burying itself in his right shoulder.

_NO…_

The barrel pointed itself at his chest. A flash of light was seen. Dan suddenly opened his eyes and shot up in his bed.

"NNNOOOOO!!!"

            X closed the office door to his unit's room and yawned.

"Oh man, what a day."

He activated his warp generator and swapped his armor for his nighttime attire. He started walking down the hall to his bedroom, looking forward to a full night's rest. Along the way, he passed Dual, commander of the "Unlucky" 7th Unit. The 7th was a small, well trained and well equipped unit of Hunters but they never saw much action. The reason why they were set up that way is because they essentially served as the janitors for major maverick outbreaks. And alone, cut off, and surrounded mavericks tended to fight very nasty.

"Hey Dual, what are you still doing up at this time of night?" The orange and silver reploid looked at X with a tired expression.

"Would you believe it's for a romantic rendezvous?"

"You? Dating? I'd have a heart attack." The two commanders laughed.

"Na, one of our cheval landchasers broke down during training and I have to march over to Cain's office to give him the report AND Cleo told me to order some new parts for it. What a glorious job it is being a Maverick Hunter. Good night X."

"'Night Dual."

            X didn't take more than three steps before a massive ball of plasma sudden carved its way through a wall to his side and continued right on past. Suddenly the emergency sirens erupted throughout the entire base and the security squads started converging on its point of origin. But by simply looking down the hole to his right, X saw where it was from.

            Dan was sitting up on his bed with his right arm in buster mode. That massive blast was his.


	9. The Lonely Road

            _Been awhile… yadda, yadda… fixed MANY continuity problems in previous chapters, plus a re-written chapter two._

            Alarms and sirens blared to life in MHHQ. Security guards from every section raced to Dan's room. Among them was Zero, cranky from being woken up and with his Z-Saber held tightly in his left hand. X was quickly jumping through the humongous holes the giant ball of plasma created to the same destination. In fact, anyone that wasn't in the middle of something important was converging on the same exact area.

            Dan was breathing heavily, his right arm still in its buster configuration. The force of the blast had been so great that the unprepared man had been forced backwards against the wall and even then, his body had created an indentation in it. X was the first to arrive, followed almost immediately by Zero and the base security. Dan looked up at the assembled crowd with confusion written all over his face. His mouth hung open as he took deep breaths.

            Zero sighed and let his arm fall by his side.

"Back to your posts, Commander X and I will take care of this. And turn those damn sirens off! I want to be back asleep in five minutes!" The guards lowered their weapons and started to leave. Dan blinked, and came out of his daze. His head moved slightly and fixated on his right arm. He began to scream and shake the limb up and down, trying to get his hand to reappear. His mind interpreted his wishes and let the wanted appendage emerge.

            Upon seeing his hand again, Dan calmed down a bit but he started to flex it, reassuring himself that it was actually there.

The sound of Dr. Cain's cane hitting the linoleum floor heralded the man's arrival. All he had on was his blue robe, but it was all that was ready to be thrown on at a moment's notice.

"What's going on here?" He asked, panting slightly from his race down the halls.

"As near as I can figure Doc, Dan finally figured out how to use his buster." Zero answered, tapping the handle of his weapon against his arm. Dr. Cain looked at the long line of holes that ran on as far as the eye could see and looked back at Dan. The man looked back at him with a bitter stare. They both wanted answers but the only way to get them was to go to the one room in MHHQ that Dan didn't want to go.

"We don't have any choice Dan." Cain said, almost like he was reading Dan's thoughts.

"There's no way in hell I am going to let you open me up like a Thanksgiving Day turkey."

"But how else are you going to-" X started to try his luck in convincing Dan but he was cut off by Zero.

"Don't bother. Dan's mind is made up. If he wants to remain ignorant of how his body works, then let him."

            X nodded, understanding Zero's plan.

"Good. Now get out."

            Naturally, it backfired completely. X gaped at Dan.

"Dan… we only want to help you."

"I don't want your help! I want you bastards to leave me alone!"

            X hung his head and walked out, followed by a hobbling Cain. Zero stayed behind for a moment and stared at Dan with contempt written on his face.

"Doctor Light gave you a second chance to live and this is how you repay his kindness." Dan looked away.

"Cain should've left your capsule buried."

            Zero left, shutting and locking the door behind him. Dan lied back down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. His conscience was yelling at him, telling him that he should be grateful that he had people who were willing to stand by him and help. His conscience also said that Zero was completely right, that Dan was throwing away the gift of life.

            If there was one thing Dan was capable of now, it was ignoring his conscience. He folded his arms behind his head and began to wonder how long he would be forced to endure life now that he was a machine. He hadn't had a thing to eat all day but he didn't feel any less weak. Maybe it was because that the day didn't consist of anything other than standing around and making a small speech. But Dan suspected that he didn't even need to eat anymore. But one thing that he did need was sleep. His eyes fluttered close and he fell into a slumber.

            When Dan next opened his eyes, he was not in his room at Maverick Hunter Headquarters, but in his old home. He looked down at his body and saw not one of metal and wires but one of real flesh and blood. He walked out of his room and down the hallway. But as he walked, the hall shifted from painted sheetrock to polished wood. Dan turned a corner and found himself in an expensive kitchen. Sitting at the table was Kate as he remembered her; young, long and curly red hair, and with lightly tanned skin. Dan sighed in relief.

"Kate… I'm so glad to see you."

            The woman turned her head sharply towards Dan. Upon seeing him, her eyes widened and she got out of her chair.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my house?"

"What? It's me, Danny." She shook her head and started to back away.

"That can't be. He's dead and he was a human."

            Dan looked down at himself and let out a breath in disbelief. His body was once again that of a reploid. His hand went to his head and felt the helmet in place once more. He grasped it and tried to tug it off, but it was like trying to pull his own head off.

"No… this can't be…"

            He pleadingly looked back up at Kate.

"Help me." She back up against the counter, her hand grasping for something to use as a weapon. She found a knife and drew it.

"Stay away from me!"

            Dan took a few steps more towards her, tears streaming down his face.

"Please Kate…"

            The woman screamed and lunged towards Dan, the knife held to strike. He raised his hands in defense. The tip of knife hit his chest.

            Dan woke with a small shout. He looked around and saw that he was still in his room at MHHQ. The giant hole he had created several hours ago was in the final stage of restoration by a dozen metools. Climbing out of his bed, Dan rubbed his eyes out and exited the room. He tiredly rubbed his head, only then noticing that his helmet had fallen off during the course of night, not that he cared. The reploids outside had resumed their daily routine and paid little attention to Dan as he wandered down the halls.

            Eventually Dan ended up by the cafeteria. Judging by the sun's position through one of the windows, it was about nine in the morning. A good portion of the staff had already eaten breakfast. On the other side of the kitchen door, he could hear the staff getting the menu ready for lunch. Walking into the dining area, he took a seat and rested his head in his hands. Dan had no idea what he was going to do. The Maverick Hunters would only be willing to let him freeload for so long and he was pretty sure that all his previous skills would have no application or demand in the world he now found himself in.

            As Dan sat there, one of the waiter robots noticed him and wheeled over. He turned his head towards the automated machine as it came to halt next to him.

"Do you wish to order something sir," The machine asked in its monotone voice.

"No."

"Very well, have a pleasant day sir." The robot wheeled away.

            All of a sudden, the sound of synchronized boots echoed from beyond the cafeteria entrance, drawing closer with each step. Dan turned his head back down towards the table. If they were from some uptight special unit, he didn't want to have to deal with them. When the squad of reploids appeared, they each bore the markings of MHHQ security staff. They held no rifles, but they did have some rather large blunt weapons dangling on their hips. One of them, in charge judging by the extra pin on her shoulder, stepped forward and scanned the room. When her eyes fell on Dan, she pointed to him and the rest of the squad immediately surrounded him.

            Dan looked at them. Each one was stone faced and had an air of complete professionalism and business about them. Dan decided to humor himself with them.

"Morning folks, what can I do for you?"

"Sir, Dr. Cain requests your presence in his office."

"Really? Then why doesn't the old bastard come down here himself or use the PA?"

"Dr. Cain is a very busy person. Now would you please come with us sir."

            At this Dan rose from his chair and sneered at them.

"Not a chance in hell."

            He started to walk away but one of the guards stepped in his way.

"That wasn't a question sir. You are coming with us and we authorized to use force if necessary."

            All of a sudden Dan reared back his right fist and squarely punched a guard to his left in his chest. Had the guard been human, the breath would've been knocked right out of him in addition to being thrown through the air a good five feet. The rest of the squad each took a step back and drew their sticks, save for one who went to the aid of the fallen guard. Dan took a fighting stance.

"Gimme your best shot."

            But while Dan certainly had strength on his side, the guards had training and experience. It was only a short while before they had Dan subdued and, with his hands bound behind his back, they were walking down the halls to Cain's office.

            Meanwhile, Cain's forehead was throbbing fiercely as he minced words with Emilius Cristoph. The slime-ball of a man had called a short while ago. Cain had known that Cristoph would've called about Dan sooner or later but the night's alarm had Cain in a rather difficult position; Cristoph was asking questions that Cain didn't want to answer, for Dan's sake.

"Why did you not release to us the details about him? As the GDC's liaison to the Maverick Hunters, I have the right to know anything that might jeopardize the safety of society."

"Let me assure you that Dan Parker could not possibly be a threat of any kind to people."

"Do you have any proof of this that you can give me Dr. Cain?"

"His CPU's design; I've taken a look at it and have determined that he can not become infected by the Maverick Virus. Quite simply, it is incompatible with his system."

            Cristoph's expression darkened.

"Just because a reploid is not infected does not mean that it can't go maverick. Need I remind you about the Repliforce?" Dr. Cain sighed heavily.

"No councilman, you do not. I will give you a full report on Dan's system _in due time_. Right now he is being… stubborn about that subject."

            Cristoph leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath.

"Very well, you have one week Dr. Cain. By next Wednesday I want its basic specifications on my desk."

'Its? Dan's just an it to you, you son of a bitch?' Cain bitterly thought. But his facial expression remained neutral, not giving Cristoph any clue to his mind's workings. The GDC councilman continued talking.

"On other matters, a base wide alarm was sounded late last night. What was the reason?"

"An accidental buster discharge. Disciplinary actions have already been taken against the individual responsible."

"Well then that's all I have to discuss with you right now Dr. Cain." Cristoph leaned forward towards his console and was about end the communication when he halted and stared right into Cain's eyes.

"Remember, one week."

            With a flick of finger, the line was cut and Cain's screen displayed only the Hunter logo. The aged man leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples. Things were not going well at all. If Dan didn't give Cain permission to examine him, Cristoph would send his own team to do it, and understanding is the last thing they would be.

            The buzzer to his door com sounded. Cain took a deep breath and sat up straight in his chair.

"Come in."

            The door rose into the wall and in stepped the security squad with Dan safely in tow.

"We found him in the dining hall sir. He put quite a fight and we were forced to detain him," the squad leader reported. Cain gave Dan a disapproving glare. He gave a cold one in return. Cain looked back at the leader.

"Thank you Coarse. You may leave now."

            The female reploid nodded, saluted Cain, and followed her squad out the door. When they were alone, Cain sighed, grabbed his cane, and walked over to Dan.

"It would've been better for the both of us if you had just went along quietly," Cain scolded as he opened the lock on Dan's bindings.

"Yeah, well my statement last night still stands. I'm not going to let use me like a guinea pig."

"I don't want to experiment on you Dan." The lock fell open and Cain grabbed the binding. Dan pulled his arms up to his chest and started to rub his wrists.

"You know damn well what I mean."

            Cain hobbled back over to his desk, tossing the handcuffs on it.

"Why'd you have to send your goon squad after me anyways? I may not like you but I'm willing to talk."

            Cain picked up a folder up his desk and handed it to Dan. The man opened it up, finding a series of photographs inside. Each one had a giant white spot in the center with the surrounding areas different in each photo and with vastly different colors.

"What are these?"

"Thermal images of your buster's plasma shot."

"So? Plasma's extremely hot. Any seventh grade student can tell you that."

"Except this is different, your shot's heat signature was off the scale of our base's security equipment. We're sending the recordings to a team of experts so we can get an exact reading."

"What are you trying to say Cain?"

"Your buster is of a completely radical design Dan. It's not based in the slightest bit off of the Megabuster series. And it's destructive capabilities…"

            Now Dan looked at Cain with honest concern.

"Just how powerful is it?"

"Your blast went through a storage area and completely destroyed a block of pure Met Alloy."

            Silence prevailed over the room. Dan was in equal shock as Cain. Met Alloy was an extremely tough compound of metals that was made famous in its use to create the Metool series of robots. Forever trademarked by their Japanese construction helmet design, they were mainly used for repair and maintenance work. But Dan remembered from his childhood that Dr. Wily had altered their programming to attack humans. When they were destroyed, the robotic components were completely eradicated but no handheld weapon could destroy the hard hat.

            Suddenly Cain's door com buzzed. Blinking a few times to rid his eyes of their blank stare, he told whoever it was on the other side to come in. The door opened to reveal a man dressed in a spotless blue uniform decorated with pins and ribbons. Held in his left hand was a cap with a pair of wings pinned to the front. His skin color was a dark brown and he had a clean shaven face.

"Dr. Cain, I'm Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Miller from the nearby Ameri-Canadian Alliance Air Force base."

            The colonel walked over to Cain's desk and shook the old man's hand. He then turned his gaze upon Dan.

"And you must be Daniel Parker. You've become quite the celebrity in the past twenty-four hours."      

            Colonel Miller offered Dan his hand. The man simply nodded in return. Colonel Miller hesitated a moment before letting his hand fall.

"What can I do for you Colonel," Cain asked.

"As you should know, my base received a notification that the Maverick Hunters Headquarters alarm went off at approximately 0240 hours. Even though you notified us shortly thereafter that everything was under control, I thought I should still come to see if there was anything we could do to help. After all, so much is owed to the Maverick Hunters."

"Thank you for your concern Colonel. Believe me, we appreciate it."

            Colonel Miller nodded and turned his attention back towards Dan.

"Mr. Parker, I think I should let you know that several military scientists are discussing plans of analyzing your systems for medical and military applications." At those words, the color drained from Cain's face.

'Oh God no.'

"None of these plans have even been completely thought out yet but I would like to know if you would participate if one such proposal was given authorization."

"No," was Dan's answer. Colonel Miller took a deep breath and nodded.

"I understand." He looked back at Cain.

"Well, I've came here for what I wanted to so I'll leave now."

            As Miller stepped out the door, he stopped and looked at Dan.

"For what it's worth, you have my sympathies Mr. Parker. I can only imagine what you must be going through." And with that, he left.

            Dan kept silent for a few minutes before looking at Cain.

"Do you want anything else from me?"

"No Dan, that's enough for now."

            Dan left the room, leaving Cain alone to his thoughts and a bottle of Jack Daniels.

            Outside, Dan started wandering the halls in an absent-minded daze. The look in his eyes was dull and glazed over. Things were happening much too fast for him to handle. First there was Kate's death; then Dan's mind readjusting itself to his new body, and now the military was trying to find out what made him tick. To him, hope of finding a place in the world was rapidly fading.

            Looking up, Dan found himself in front of the several bars within MHHQ, this one called _The Last Round_. He stared blankly at the glowing neon sign. He had never had a drink before. He looked around. This section of the building was empty as most reploids were on duty. Dan shrugged and walked through the door.

'What the Hell, I'm technically the oldest guy here.'

            The room was dimly light with a variety of colors; blue, green, yellow, and red. A dozen tables decorated the area, one of which had a pair of off duty guards playing a game of poker. In the far corner were a modern jukebox and a pool table resting a few feet from it. On the left wall was a vid screen that had an on going baseball game displayed. The bar on the right was spotless with several stools in perfect condition. Standing behind the bar and cleaning a shot glass was the bartender, a reploid designed after a pug dog.

            Dan slowly ambled over to the bar and took a seat, his elbows resting on the wood. The bartender looked up at him and placed the glass back in its rack.

"What can I get for ya?"

"A shot of whiskey if you have any."

            The bartender nodded, took the glass he had just finished cleaning, and poured a bottle of the liquor in it. Dan picked up the glass and brought to his eyes. The yellow liquid had a thin layer of white on its surface that was quickly dissipating. The image of the bartender was distorted, making him look even unattractive than before. The alcohol held no solutions, but merely a means of escape from Dan's pain.

"Through the teeth, over the gums, watch out stomach, here it comes," he muttered as the glass was lifted to his lips. A tilt of his head backwards and the whiskey disappeared from the glass. He set it back on the bar. For a moment, he felt nothing but the cool liquid traveling down his throat. Then all of a sudden, the magic elixir's strength kicked in.

            Dan doubled over and coughed loudly several times. The bartender smirked and softly chuckled.

"First time huh? You should've started with something a little bit weaker than whiskey."

            Dan looked at him with a blank expression, blinked, and then held his shot glass up.

"Refill please."

            A couple hours later, Dan still sat at the bar, hunched over a full fledged mug of beer. He had given up on the whiskey a while ago. The bartender still stood behind his wooden bench, polishing the surface. A few of the other patrons had left and replaced by a handful of others. The baseball game was still going on.

            The red armored man lifted his drink to his lips and gulped down the last of it. With a sigh, Dan let the mug fall noisily back onto the bar. The bartender looked at him with a bored face.

"Another refill?"

            When Dan didn't reply, the bartender shrugged and went back to his polishing. Dan stared intently into the bottom of his mug with his bloodshot eyes. A few droplets of the malted liquid remained down there. About the same amount was left of Dan's confidence, self-respect, and will. A part of his mind screamed at him to cease this foolishness and leave this place. But he didn't hear it. The alcohol had given him a bit of a buzz.

            A Hunter that was playing pool looked towards the bar.

"Hey Pugs, you wanna change this shit? Your favorite team is getting their asses handed to them."

"Yeah, yeah, hold on a second…"

            The bartender walked over to where he had left the remote and changed it to a random channel. The screen now showed a news broadcaster flying over a city further inland. The center of their attention was a throng of people that were gathered in the streets below.

"… all over the globe people have gathered in protest at the continued presence of Dan Parker within the Maverick Hunter Headquarters in New Tokyo, Washington. None of the known anti-reploid groups have released any statements regarding the recently revealed reploid, but a few of the protesters did comment to our teams on the ground."

            The screen's image changed to a recorded video of one particularly fat woman talking to the camera.

"I can tolerate a reploid 'cause they've always been that way. But he was once human and I won't standby while scientists try to figure out how he was made and make more like him."

            The picture changed again to a much more unruly mob. The police were shown holding riot shields, some of them with the remains of foodstuffs streaked on the plastisteel.

"He doesn't deserve to be called by a _human_ name anymore! We demand the death of Omega for he will be the doom of us all!" The crowd cheered in response.

            The rioter was about to spout more of his mind-numbing propaganda when the vidscreen burst out in a spray of shattered glass and sparks. All eyes in the room snapped to Dan who was now standing, his arm outstretched. What remained of his glass mug could be seen at the bottom of the vidscreen. He looked at Pugs. The bartender had his back to wall.

"Bill Cain for my drinks and a new display. It's about the only thing he's good for."

            Dan started to walk out of the room with a hunched back. The door opened briefly, letting in some of the early afternoon sun before it slammed shut once more, leaving the room lit only by its unnatural lighting. Pugs sighed as he walked over to the broom closet.

"That boy needs some serious help before he goes off and does something stupid."

            The corridors of MHHQ were a blur to Dan as he staggered towards his room. His mind was shattered. A third of the world turned its back on him, another third wanted him dead and the rest either didn't care or just wanted to place underneath a microscope. Kate died because of him. In his mind he had no one to turn to. He truly was alone.

            The door to his room opened. The inside was dimly lit, just as he had left it. His helmet lied forgotten next to his bed. Dan stepped in and shut the door behind him.

            Zero screamed out loud and brought his saber down on the holographic maverick. The fuchsia armored enemy shrieked before the plasma blade cut through him. Zero lifted his weapon up and slotted into the recharge module attached to his shoulders. He was breathing heavily, the program he had just finished was that he had customized specifically for pure melee fighting. He had spent the day running it out of the general stress that came from leading his unit. There were just sometimes he felt like his was in charge of a bunch of monkeys armed with sharp knifes and a fistful of acorns.

"Computer, end program."

            The holosimulator's system's beeped in response and the image of a war-torn city faded and was replaced by black squares broken by yellow lines. Zero calmly strode out of the room and into the training halls. As the doors shut behind him, a grin slowly started to cover his face.

"Well Dan, it's time you learned what it feels like to fight a Maverick."

            Dan sat on the edge of his bed, stare blankly at the wall and softly singing to himself.

"Through early morning fog I see, visions of the things to be, the pains that are withheld for me. I realize and I can see…

"That suicide is painless. It brings on many changes. And I can take or leave it, if I please.

"The game of life is hard to play, I'm gonna lose it anyway. The losing card I'll someday lay. So this is all I have to say…

"Suicide is painless. It brings on many changes. And I can take or leave it, if I please.

"The sword of time will pierce our skin. It doesn't hurt when it begins. But as it works it way on in, the pain grows stronger, watch it grin…

"Suicide is painless. It brings on many changes. And I can take or leave it, if I please.

"A brave man once requested me, to answer questions that are key. 'Is it to be, or not to be?' And I replied, 'Oh why ask me…?'

"Suicide is painless. It brings on many changes. And I can take or leave it, if I please.

"And you can do the same thing if… you…. please…"

            Dan's voice lost the sing-song quality to it and fell flat.

"Suicide is painless…"

            He looked down at his opened torso.

"I hope."

            Zero calmly walked down the hall, the daily crowds that occupied it were starting to disperse for the coming night. Dan's roomed grew closer with each step. Zero lightly fingered the handle of his beam saber. He was contemplating about letting Dan use his weapon of choice for practice. He somehow doubted that the holographic matrix would be able to handle Dan's buster well. It would take a Mk. IV X-Buster to blow through one of MHHQ's reinforced walls and what Dan had cleaved through them like a hot knife through butter.

            Zero let his arm fall back down. Dan's room was right in front of him now. Pressing the opening key, the door slid into the ceiling.

He walked in just in time to see Dan rip out two handfuls of his internal circuits.

"Oh GOD!" Zero screamed at the top his lungs. Dan's eyes widened as far as they could as his body started convulsing. His hand's relaxed and the metallic contents clattered to the floor. Zero activated his emergency comm. unit.

"This is Commander Zero; I want an emergency medical team at my current location ten minutes ago!"

            He cut the line before whoever was at the other end could ask any questions. Zero ran over to Dan and picked him up in his arms.

"Dammit, I will NOT let you do this Dan!"


	10. Changes

Zero's feet pounded on the linoleum floor, his arms tightly gripping Dan's body. He wasn't going to wait for the medical team to arrive. He already knew the path they would take anyway, so it was certain they would meet up at some point. Dan's pupils were blown wide, face staring into nothingness. The only sign that life still resided within the metal frame was the occasional twitch and ragged breathing, a sure sign to Zero that he didn't have much time before Dan's respiratory systems shut down completely. Then his reactor wouldn't receive the required hydrogen to function and when that was gone…

Face focusing even more, Zero continued his streak towards the med bay. As he predicted, he ran into the EMTs on the way. There were only two, both gripping onto a separate side of a floating gurney. The one on the left Zero didn't recognized, but he knew the guy on the right. The reploid's name was Gauze. He had been with the Maverick Hunters since shortly before the start of the Third Maverick Uprising. He had gained a great deal of respect from his peers by skillfully handling the triage of causalities while MHHQ was under assault by Doppler's Army.

"What happened?" the medical reploid demanded.

"Suicide attempt. Yanked out a bunch of his core circuitry," Zero quickly replied, lying Dan down upon the gurney.

"Jesus Christ…" Zero glanced back to see the other reploid staring slack jawed at Dan's exposed torso. Gauze was on top of the situation.

"Snap out of it and call Hazil! Tell him to get the ER ready!"

The two reploids turned around and sped back towards the med bay. Zero took off down another corridor. Hazil was good at his job. Hell, he was probably the best there was. But Zero's gut feeling told him that he would need help from someone who intimately knew of a reploid's construction. Fortunately, the world's expert in that field lived right the facility.

Arms pumping, Zero ran towards Dr. Cain's office.

The aged man was hunched over his desk, a pair of glasses resting on his nose. He was currently in the middle of his daily routine of sorting through his mail. It was kind of funny, in a way. Technology had brought about many kinds of wondrous things, one of them electronic mail. And yet, after its invention nearly two hundred years ago, people were far from abandoning the old-fashioned way. Because the security a piece of paper held over electronic firewalls, virus scanners, and port blockers, important things were still being sent to him, care of the US Post Office.

'Bill… bill… junk… stock report… bill… junk… bill… death threat (third today)… charity request… junk…'

Cain's mind was stuck on automatic until Zero came crashing through his front door, panting heavily.

"Zero? What's wrong? You're as pale as ghost."

"It… it… it's Dan," a hunched over Zero replied.

"What happened?" Cain asked, rising from his chair, raising his hands to take his glasses off. Zero closed his eyes and took a deep breath before answering.

"He tried to commit suicide."

The sound of shattering glass was heard.

"Oh God, no…"

"I called the med bay and met the EMTs half way. I don't know if Hazil will be enough for this."

Cain gripped his cane tightly and started hobbling towards the door as fast as he could.

"Zero, go and get X. He'll want to know.

The Crimson Hunter nodded and quickly left the room. He didn't know how he was going to tell X. What could Zero do? Beat around the bush and try to break the news that way? No, X would get impatient and then probably deck him after he had finally told the truth. Should he tell X that Cain wanted him to report to the med bay for a surprise check-up? That was a possibility, but Zero didn't like lying to his best friend and battlefield partner.

He inwardly sighed. The best option was just to come right out and tell X what happened, no fancy dressings, no "slowly pull the band-aid off" approach, just the straight truth in one short sentence.

Before he had realized it, Zero was standing in front of X's door. Taking a deep breath, he buzzed the bell. For a moment, there was no answer. Then the crackling of static came, shortly followed by X's voice.

"Commander X, here."

"X, it's me. Open the door."

A short moment later, the metal obstruct slid into the ceiling. X had his armor on, but his helmet was discarded, revealing a mess of black hair. Right from the beginning, the Blue Bomber could tell something was wrong. It was written all over Zero's face as plain as day.

"… it's Dan," Zero started.

"What happened?"

"He tried to kill himself."

X's breath caught in his throat. His face constricted into a look of horror and shock. He stared at Zero, demanding more news.

"He's in the med bay. Cain's already on his way down."

Not a single more word needed to be said. The two took off towards the med bay, X leading the way. His concern for Dan overwhelmed everything else. X roughly pushed aside anyone who got in his way, not even giving an explanation. But none was needed. Everyone knew X enough that anything that could cause him to act like was of great importance.

Meanwhile, in MHHQ's med bay, Hazil was having a fit. His patient was not only of a special case, but he threw nearly the entire damned book of reploid medicine out the window. The nearby monitoring equipment, which would've given Hazil and Cain a clear view of Dan's vital stats, was switched off. Without any control chip, there was no place for the machines to hook into. And Dan's interior build… well, Hazil thought it was like solving a Rubix's Cube.

"Any ideas, Cain?" the medical reploid asked, hunched over Dan's body. The good doctor was right beside him, studying Dan's insides.

"Maybe we should isolate the exposed leads, then figure out what plugs into what."

"He'll be dead by then!"

"Well, what do you think we should do?"

"I'm working on it."

The two continued to study Dan's interior. The man's arms and legs had been strapped down to the operating table. Partially, this was so they wouldn't have to worry about Dan's seizures interrupting them, but also so that, if he lived, he wouldn't immediately try to kill himself again.

Cain's eyes darted all around the chest cavity. Half of what he saw just flew in the face of reploid physiology. Systems which should be in one place were somewhere else. Completely foreign designs spattered the area, some offering the slightest of glimpses of their function and others none at all. It was a true puzzle to both Cain and Hazil.

And it was the latter who figured out what to do.

"I think I found a solution." Cain glanced up.

"I'm all ears."

"I'm not certain, but I don't think all of red boy here's vital system were damaged too much. I say we stabilize him the best we can, hook him up to an external power source, and let his auto-repair system handle the rest."

"Then what?"

"We wait."

Cain glanced at Dan's auto-repair system. It was largely intact and seemed to be no different than X's, so it would be easy to fix. It was a good plan, probably the best one that could be cooked up under the circumstances.

"Let's do it."

Hazil looked to the right and was about to grab one of his instruments when X and Zero burst into the room. At the sight of Dan lying on top of the operating table, opened up like a clam, X came to a halt. Zero just looked at Hazil grimly.

"What's happening, Hazil?"

"We may have found a way to save him."

Zero just nodded. He turned towards X and lightly grabbed his shoulder. He looked back with eyes that shimmered with repressed emotions.

"Let's wait outside, X. Let Cain and Hazil handle this," the Crimson Hunter said in a hushed voice. X swallowed and nodded. The two left the room without another word. Cain and Hazil waited until they had left before resuming the operation.

"So what do you think?" Cain asked.

"God help this guy if we pull this off. X will go postal on him," Hazil replied, perfectly understanding what Cain had meant.

They then proceeded in silence.

Outside in the waiting room, X and Zero were both sitting on a couch, hunched over and deep in thought. The room was sparsely decorated, just a few places to sit and a dusty table that nobody ever bothered to clean.

"I should've seen it, Zero," X said, voice trembling audibly.

"You couldn't have, X. We had no idea what was going on in his mind."

"But the signs were all there!" X's strongbox of feelings was now being pried open.

"He woke up three weeks ago to a world that's completely new to him and found out that he was now a reploid! His fiancé died in front of his eyes! And because of that press conference we forced him to go to yesterday, over half the damn world wants his head on a platter! He never asked for any of that! None of this has been fair, damn it!"

Tears now streaked down X's eyes as he continued to vent his grief.

"He doesn't deserve to be put through this hell! He should be living forty years ago, not going through all this shit"

X tightly closed his eyes and bowed his head.

"He's my brother, Zero. I care about him because of that. I don't want him to be this miserable."

X spoke no more and just silently shed his tears. Zero didn't say anything. No words of his could possibly comfort him.

The two Hunters sat in the silence, and waited.

Dan found himself floating in a misty void. He felt warm and safe. Nothing could harm him here. Slowly he drifted, further and further up. He didn't know where his destination lay and he didn't care. He could stay like this for all eternity and be happy. Suddenly, he stopped moving, and felt like he was standing up. Puzzled, he looked around. He couldn't see colors in this place; everything was shades of gray. Out of the fog came a hand, opened and reaching towards him. Dan thought that it was the hand of an angel coming to take him home.

And thus was reasonably surprised when the hand slapped him hard across the face.

Dan stumbled back, a shocked expression on his face.

"What the _fuck_ is wrong with you!" a voice said.

"What?"

"You had said that you were pretty screwed up at this time, but _suicide_? Jesus H. Christ, are you an idiot!"

"Who are you?"

"You don't remember me, huh? Well, I'd like to tell you but…" The voice quickly chuckled to itself. "It could seriously screw up the space/time continuum or some other Star Trekish bullshit."

"What are you talking about?"

The voice sighed and put the hand on Dan's shoulder. It was strange. From the way the arm receded into the mist, its owner seemed to be quite a bit shorter than Dan.

"Listen, bro - I know things are tough right now and it ain't gonna get any better for a _long_ time. But you've got to hang in there and above all else **stay alive**. A hell of a lot is riding on your shoulders."

Dan's vision started to dim and he felt like he was falling. He desperately tried to grip onto the hand, but his fingers slipped right through it.

"See you later, Dan. Much later from your point of view."

Right before he blacked out completely, Dan heard something else.

A four tone, five note whistle.

X and Zero continued to wait outside the med bay. X was staring listlessly at the floor, his face streaked red from his crying. Zero thumbed through some old magazine pile that every single damn waiting room seemed to have. It had been over an hour since the two took up their post and waited for news on Dan's condition. X hoped that Cain and Hazil could pull of one of their seemingly endless miracles. Zero wanted to have a good, long talk with Dan as soon as he was released.

The twin doors leading into the med bay slid into the wall and Hazil rolled out on his treads. X suddenly snapped to awareness and fixated his anxious face on the medical reploid. Zero looked up from the magazines. Silence reigned for several moments, X and Zero awaiting news, Hazil trying to find the right way to say what had to be said.

"… Cain wants to talk to you X."

X didn't say a thing. He walked with a hurried step into the med bay. As soon as he had disappeared behind the sterile doors, Hazil left the waiting room, leaving Zero all alone.

Inside, X could see Cain taking a deep drink of water while, in the corner, hooked up to an external generator, Dan lied on his bed, sleeping soundly.

"How's Dan?"

Cain tossed the wax cup into the recycle bin. Taking a deep breath, he looked right into X's green eyes.

"He'll live."

A deep sigh that came from the heart erupted from X's mouth.

"Thank God."

"You'd better; Hazil and I had a bitch of a time trying to fix Dan up."

Cain grabbed his walking stick and slowly walked over to Dan's bed.

"X, there's something you have to see."

Puzzled, X followed Cain. Dan's torso cavity was, thankfully, covered with a cloth. X and Cain came to a halt on the left side of the bed.

"I hate to say it, X, but this operation presented me with a good look at Dan's internal operating systems. What I found was astonishing, to say the least."

"Like what?"

"For starters, Dan's chest compartment is non-existent."

"So he can't use heart or sub tanks?"

"Yes, but for him it doesn't matter. His micro-fusion generator has been enlarged to compensate."

"Well, at least it balances out."

"That's not all I found, though. Dan's armor isn't made up of Titanium-X, like yours. Instead, he shares the same armor plating as your first armor set."

"Maybe that's just because Dr. Light started work on his body after he had created the armor."

"I thought the same - at first. But then I took into consideration the rest of his body. The extended air dash thrusters, his extremely powerful buster, the enlarged generator, his superior armor… it all points towards one thing: Dr. Light made this body to fight."

X remained silent for a moment.

"But, that doesn't make any sense. I was built with the ability to choose my own life. Why would Dr. Light do the opposite for Dan?"

"I don't know. And that's not the surprising part."

"What do you mean?"

"Each of Dan's secondary systems is completely identical to that of any other reploid. But his core systems, the ones that make him tick, are completely different. If anything about this boy is certain, it's that he's not a reploid."

"Well, technically, neither am I," X said.

"No - Dan's not even a protoreploid."

"… then what is he?"

Cain sighed and placed a hand to Dan's forehead.

"One of a kind."

X stared at his brother. Dan's face drew together in some kind of puzzlement and he began to murmur unintelligible sounds.

"So, Dan'll be fine?"

"Yes. He just needs to rest. He should be fine by tomorrow."

"Good. I'm going to bed."

Cain nodded his head and began to hobble towards an illuminated desk off to the side.

"Make sure you get a lot of rest, X. You look horrible. I'm going to keep an eye on Dan until Hazil comes back."

X didn't reply. He merely walked out back into the waiting room. Zero was still sitting on the couch, arms folded across his chest.

"How's Dan," he asked.

"He's going to be okay." Zero nodded his head once.

"Good. I'm going to crash out here for the night. I want to have a few words with Dan when he comes out."

"Alright. Later, Zero."

"Later, X."

X walked out and disappeared around a corner. Zero took a deep breath and stretched out the couch. Soon enough, his eyes were closed and he was fast asleep.

Dan slowly opened his eyes, an action he immediately regretted. The overhead lights were blinding. A splitting headache swept over him like a tidal wave. His eyes snapped shut. A groan of pain escaped his lips, feeling for the first time what a hangover was like. He was dimly aware of the restraints confining him to the bed.

"So, you're finally up," Cain said, sitting in a desk chair.

"Stop shouting," Dan whispered, barely loud enough for Cain to hear.

"What time is it?" he continued.

"One in the afternoon - you've been out for over twenty hours."

There was a moment of silence.

"You know," Cain started, "you gave us all a scare, especially your **brother**."

At first, Dan didn't respond. Timidly, he reopened his eyes again. The blinding light had receded somewhat, leaving a strange glow to everything in its place. Looking across the room, he could see Cain stare at him, awaiting a reply. Dan looked the other way.

"How's X now?"

"Better. Right now, he's occupied with his duties." Cain's voice was a few decibels quieter now.

Dan stayed silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Cain leaned back in his chair, tapping his cane on the floor.

"Who brought me here?" Dan finally asked.

"Zero did. You owe your life to him."

"… can I leave now?"

"I don't know. Are you going to pull the same idiotic stunt again?"

"No."

Cain stared thoughtfully at Dan for a moment before rising and moving to the bed's control panel. He typed in a few commands and the metal clamps encircling Dan's body released. Sitting up, Dan swung his legs over the side of the bed and hopped off. He didn't say anything to Cain. Taking a deep breath, he walked out of the med bay.

The doors slid into the wall and Dan slowly walked out. His right hand was holding his head, the headache having yet to disappear.

"I see you're alright."

Dan froze in his tracks and looked behind him, his hand dropping. Hidden in the far corner was Zero, his arms folded across his chest, a dark expression covering his face.

"You put X through Hell last night," Zero continued to say, slowing walking towards Dan. The red armored man just stood there, his eyes focused on the approaching Crimson Hunter.

"The only reason why I haven't already beaten the living crap out of you is because I have something of an understanding of what's going on in your head." Zero came to a halt, mere inches away from Dan.

"If you ever put my best friend through that kind of misery again, may God help you, because I will be using your ass for target practice. Got it?"

Dan nodded and turned away. Zero huffed and began to walk off.

"Zero," Dan asked, his voice low.

"… what?"

"Thanks."

In an instant, Zero smoldering disgust towards Dan disappeared. He looked back at Dan with a surprised look on his face. Dan had already resumed his hangdog appearance as he strolled into the hallway. Zero stared out after him for a few moments. He didn't know what had suddenly shifted Dan's attitude. Somehow, he didn't seem as gloomy anymore.

Zero took a deep breath and left the waiting room, eager to resume his duties.

Dan aimlessly walked the hallways of MHHQ. Most of the other hunters barely gave him a second look. He felt like that was a good thing - the less attention he garnered, the better off he was. His hangover continued to bother him, but he was able to put it out of his mind. After all the alcohol he drank last night, Dan was surprised that he had managed to keep it all down. It still hadn't occurred to him that he didn't have a stomach.

Somehow, Dan reached his room. The metal door slid up into the ceiling with a hiss as he walked in. Resting on his nightstand was his helmet, right where he left it. However, beside it were a note, a pen, and a plastic card. Curious, he walked over and picked the piece of paper up.

Dan,

I don't know where to start. Obviously, it's probably in yours, and mine, best interest that we don't talk until later. I can't begin to understand what's going through your mind, so I came up with a solution of sorts.

The plastic card is my debit card, linked directly to my personal bank account. Do yourself a favor and get out of MHHQ for a while. There's plenty of money, so don't worry about overdrawing.

Your brother,

X

Dan stared at the note for a few moments, a sense of shock and warmth running through his body. Despite everything that he had done, X was still willing to help him out. Picking up the debit card, Dan stared at it and wondered what he would do with the money. People would recognize him the second he stepped out the do-

And then the perfect answer hit him. It was so obvious that Dan was surprised that he hadn't thought of it already.

Crumpling the note up and tossing it onto the floor, Dan walked out of his room, an energetic step carrying him, a four tone, five note song on his lips.

An hour later, Dan was walking down a seedy alleyway. The nondescript red brick walls were covered by graffiti, none of which was readable by anybody with a brain. The paved ground was littered with newspapers and decaying food bits. A few bums slept by a steam vent, cardboard boxes serving as their blankets. Dan didn't mind walking down a place like this. In fact, he preferred it since no one that hung out back here cared who he was. If he had walked down the open streets, he would have attracted unwanted attention.

Held tightly in Dan's left hand was a rumpled print-out from a phone booth. On it was a list of several kinds of stores that Dan was looking for. He had already found about half of the stores listed, turning away at the sight of each one. From the way they looked, the staff would ask questions, questions that Dan didn't want to answer. Judging from the local conditions, the next place on the list might be just the one he was looking for.

Continuing his walk, Dan found himself wondering about what he was going to do once he reached the place. Would he go for the full treatment? Or would he stay low key and simply go for the least outrageous thing? Being a bit of a practical kind of guy deep down, the former wasn't really all that appealing. But neither did he want to choose a bland option that would leave him feeling like it was a waste of time.

Turning the corner at the end of the alley, Dan found himself right where he wanted to be. The place's sole window was barrel, the glass behind it fogged over by many layers of dust. The metal door had several sturdy looking locks on it, most of which ran the whole length of the door, he guessed. Hanging over the door was a sign, the lettering on it a bit faded, but still readable. "Meyer's Reploid Body Works," it read. This was the right place.

Walking in, Dan heard a buzzer go off, heralding his arrival. The lobby was small, a few old chairs lining the wall along with a stack of magazines that appeared to be over a year old. Opposite the door was the front desk, rusted in several areas, holes covered over by duct tape. Behind it was a door that lead, presumably, to the back area where all the work took place. Coming out of it was the owner, a humanoid type of reploid, a stained white t-shirt covering his chest. Dan swore that, if he had been human, the guy would've had a thinning hair line, a beer gut, and in need of a shave.

"Whaddya want?" he asked, his gravelly voice coming out like Dan had interrupted his favorite sports game.

"I'd like to change the way I look, obviously. Why the hell else would I come to a place like this?" Dan had come across a few people like this before and knew how to deal with them.

"Look – if you insult me, or my shop, I'll throw your ass to the curb, or I'll screw you over on the redesign, understand?"

Dan chuckled lowly, waving X's debit card in the man's face.

"Once you see how much money I have to spend, you'll be treating me like royalty."

"Oh yeah?" the owner countered.

"Yeah," Dan replied, handing the plastic card over. The man snatched it and slid it through his reader. When the account information displayed on his computer screen, Dan swore he could see the guy's eyes bulge out of their sockets.

"Er, how can I help you today, sir?" the owner asked, a nervous smile on his face now.

"Better. First, I want to see what kind of modifications you can do."

"Certainly. If you'd follow me into my work area, I'll give you a full rundown."

The owner flipped up a section of the desk, allowing Dan to pass on by. He walked through with a bit of a smug air about him. Right now, he held the power and the owner was more than willing to bend over backwards to get as much as he could.

"I'm Meyer, the owner of this shop," the man said, following Dan.

"You can call me Parker."

The owner nodded once as he closed the door behind him. Dan looked over the room.

To his surprise, the place was clean, not a spec of dirt to be seen. The floor was made of simple black linoleum, but had been waxed to such a degree that one could see their reflection. The walls were made of simple aluminum sheets riveted to the support beams behind them. Each leaf of aluminum was well polished though. The ceiling had a pair of florescent lights fixed to it, a gentle blue light cascading down, giving the room a more metallic feel. Several vidscreens were mounted on the walls, their faces blank. A few workbenches and desks lined the perimeter, tools and equipment neatly arranged to be within easy reach. In the center of the room, however, was a large, man sized, machine had several thick cables and hoses running from it to different units mounted on the top of the nearby wall.

This place may be located in a dingy part of town, but it was obvious that the owner took great pride in what he did.

Meyer walked over to a computer that was hanging on the wall and pressed a few buttons. Its screen blinked to life as the image of a generic humanoid reploid appeared on it. Meyer typed a few things into the keyboard, changing the display to match Dan's appearance.

"So, do you have changes in mind?" he asked.

"Not really," Dan replied, slowly walking up to the screen. "Care to suggest anything?"

"Well, your armor color's fine but those flesh tones on your limbs hurt my eyes to look at. I'd suggest changing it to something that blends in more with your armor. I can do anything from single colors to more 'exotic' blends."

Dan crossed his arms as Meyer made a color table appear on screen. White, tan, red, green, blue, purple - Dan's eyes grazed over all of the primary and secondary colors with disinterest. None of them seemed right. But then a thought popped in his head.

"Can you apply grayscale, or just for shading?"

"Are you kidding? Gray is color; I can do it."

"Then I want that."

Meyer nodded and picked up a pen that was lying next to the keyboard. He walked over to the screen and touched the gray area of the color table. The screen flashed and extended the gray cell into a bar that ranged from the lightest shade to the darkest.

"In what hue do you want it?"

"A few levels darker than my armor."

Meyer touched the corresponding section. The screen flashed again and returned to the full body picture. In a wipe that started from the top, the flesh colored limbs and waist turned to gray. Dan nodded in approval.

"That looks much better," he commented.

"Can I make another suggestion?"

"Shoot."

"How about we do something about the helmet?"

"Sounds good."

Meyer walked back over to keyboard and called up the possible modifications for the helmet. Dan watched as the screen flashed again, highlighted the helmet, and zoomed into it, everything else dissolving away until the headgear was all that was shown. A second later, a few additional boxes appeared around the screen.

"See anything that you like?"

Dan looked at each of the selections displayed. Shaping, coloring, designs, accessories – none of them appealed to him. Then his eyes focused beyond the screen, at his reflection. Upon seeing it, he realized that, no matter how much he changed his body, he will always see the same face looking back, a face that was supposed to be human.

And again, the answer solution came to him.

"Can you add shades?"

"Shades?"

"You know, sunglasses, a visor?"

"Oh yeah, sure, I can do that."

"Then I want a visor, black colored, no curved edges, just in straight lines that'll slope down from the edge of the helmet, angle at my cheeks, and meet above the bridge of my nose."

"No problem."

Meyer hit a few keys, selection screens on the monitor appearing and disappearing, finishing with the described visor added in the helmet.

"Anything else?"

Dan closed his eyes and the mental image of how he would look appeared. He chuckled lowly to himself, seeing just how much he resembled Protoman. It wasn't intentional, but why shouldn't he go all the way? The only things that he couldn't get here were the yellow scarf and a shield. But there was one more detail that he could add.

"Can I add custom designs?"

"Sure, just take the pointer and draw what you want on the screen."

Dan picked up the pen and, walking over to the screen, outlined three triangles coming out from the visor, reaching back about a third of the helmet. He heard Meyer hit a key and the drawing imposed itself onto the helmet.

"What color do you want that to be?"

"White, please."

A moment later, the color inside the triangles shifted to a pure white. Dan smirked and nodded to himself. This was exactly what he wanted.

"Anything else?" Meyer asked.

"No, that's it."

Meyer loudly tapped an entry into the keyboard. The screen changed back to the full body view, the blue background changed to green. He then walked over to the large person sized machine and flicked a few switches on the side of it. The machine hummed to life and a table slid out of it.

"Alright, I'll need you to take off your helmet and lie down on the bench. Afterwards, you'll be slid into this machine where the body paint will be applied while I make those changes to your helmet. The process will take only around half an hour, but the helmet will take about twice as long. I highly doubt you'll want to be active for that time, so I'll put you into stasis for the duration." Meyer prattled off, tapping the machine a few times for emphasis.

Dan tossed the pen back next to the keyboard and walked over to the machine. He took his helmet off and tossed it on a nearby workbench with all the tools, the metal headgear clattering loudly upon impact. Taking a deep breath, he got up onto the table and lied down. Meyer hit a few switches and paused just as he was about to start the sequence.

"Are you sure you want to do this."

Dan closed his eyes.

"I am."

Meyer turned his attention back towards the machine and hit the switch. With a barely noticeable hiss, Dan felt as the table was drawn into the machine. There was a loud clunk as if finished retracting. A few moments later, he was out cold.

Meyer watched for a moment as his automated paint applicator did its job. He recognized Parker from the news yesterday. It didn't come as much of a surprise that he had wanted to change the way he looked. Meyer felt a degree of sympathy for the poor guy. He also felt a bit upset at himself for how he treated Parker at first. Truth was, Meyer was in a bit of debt and it wasn't uncommon that the collection agencies to make unexpected visits. That and he had been ripped off a few times by some thugs that were trying to run from the law.

Stepping away from his machine, Meyer walked over to where Parker had tossed his helmet and sat down. Turning the headgear upright, he leaned to the side and turned on a nearby monitor. The screen came to life in an instant and displayed the modifications that he would need to make. Reaching above, he turned on a device that cast a grid upon the helmet, the design Parker wanted perfectly outlined. Clutching his etching tool, Meyer settled down to work.

Dan slowly opened his eyes. The luminescent lights above had a few halos around them and the surrounding area had a bright hue to it. He wondered how long he had been out. In response to his thoughts, a computerized voice ran through his mind, telling him that he had been in stasis for exactly one hour, eight minutes, forty-two seconds, and a few other numbers that Dan didn't know what to call. Slowly, he stood up and swung his legs over the edge of the table. To the side, Meyer was applying the finishing touches to Dan's helmet.

The first thing Dan did was to look down at his newly colored limbs. To his delight, the machine had worked perfectly, his waist and thighs now a dark dray. A quick check of his upper arms confirmed that they had been done right too.

"You may not be located in the best of places, Meyer, but you have some damn fine machines."

The owner of the shop barely spared a glance back from his work.

"Thanks," he mumbled out a reply. Dan smirked to himself. Meyer seemed like the workaholic type, a definite contrast to the way appeared. Dan idly wondered what the guy could do if he had better resources (and a better location). Probably, he'd make a good name for himself very fast.

"Alright, it's finished," Meyer announced. He set to work cleaning up his work bench while Dan hopped off of the table. The machine automatically slid the bed back in while Dan walked over to where Meyer was still sitting.

Just as Dan reached him, Meyer turned around. His face was beaming with pride at the work he had done, the helmet held between two white paint stained hands. Lifting them up, he presented Dan with his headgear. It was exactly as the man had wanted it, and then some. Attached to the helmet were two circular devices, one on each side, approximately above the ear, that rose sharply and gently curved inwards, forming a bowl shape, the inner lining a green color. It was something that he had noticed on X and Zero, but never asked about.

"What are those things?" Dan asked, a questioning look on his face.

"Well, you seemed like the Maverick Hunter type, and since your debit card _was_ linked to the personal account of Megaman X, I figured that you were one." Meyer handed the helmet off to Dan as he continued to blather on.

"That being the case, I attached a radio to your helmet, free of charge. Naturally, it'll only pick up civilian bands, but I'm sure you can get a technician at MHHQ to modify the transceiver with the appropriate encoders and frequency modulations."

"Uh, thanks."

Dan took a deep breath and slid the helmet over his head, hiding blue eyes behind a dark, impenetrable barrier.

For a moment, both Meyer and Dan remained quiet and still, both reflecting on the latter's new appearance. For Dan, it was a new identity, free from all the restrictions and reputations of his first. To Meyer, it was a job well done and a satisfied customer. Meyer smiled and clapped his hands.

"You're look pretty snazzy there, Parker. No longer does your appearance give off 'nimrod with bad tastes'. Now, you seem like cool, mysterious guy that's bound to be a lady killer."

Dan laughed loudly at Meyer's opinion.

"Thanks for the vote of approval. By the way, how much did this cost?"

"Let me put it this way: you barely made a dent in the Megaman X's bank account."

"Good to know; he'd probably throw a fit if I spent half of his savings up."

Dan quickly shook hands with Meyer, picked up X's debit card, and strode out of the body shop. He had no real destination in mind. He didn't feel like going back to the MHHQ again so soon, so he decided to just walk about the city and test his new look out on the public.

Instead of sticking to the alleyways and shadows like he had on his trip before, Dan stayed on the sidewalk the whole time, walking upright instead of the hunched gait that he had become accustomed to, shoulders back and head held high. There was a newfound self-assurance in his walk now. He kept his arms by his side in a relaxed pose, the card held snugly in his right hand. From behind his visor, Dan watched different people's reactions as he strolled by them. To his delight, they spared him no extra glance than they would at another reploid. No longer was he Public Enemy #1. He was just another face in the crowd, anonymous the only identity the world assigned to him.

Spirits high, Dan continued his leisurely walk.

At MHHQ, Zero was slouched over his desk in his office, going over the documents for his unit. Held loosely in his left hand was a pen. The blinds to the room were drawn shut, cutting off all natural light. Presently, the only source of illumination was the lamp that rested in front of him. The look of Zero's face was one of absolute, pure, unadulterated, mind numbing boredom. His eyes were glazed over as he listlessly stared at the paperwork before him. All the writing on the documents had blurred and morphed into an indecipherable foreign language. As far as Zero was concern at the moment, his personal Hell would consist of him filling out the same damn piece of paper again and again for all eternity with no breaks.

In short, he loathed doing paperwork.

Blinking a few times, he leaned back and stretched, glancing at the digital clock that hung on the wall. It was roughly a quarter after four in the afternoon. He had been chained to this desk for the past two hours and he had had enough. Pushing away from the desk, Zero decided to leave the red tape for another time, which to him meant ignoring it until either Cain or X did it.

Walking out of his unit's office, Zero began wandering around the building. Most of people he passed either ignored him as they carried on with their own tasks or came to attention as he walked by. Like any effective leader, he cared about proper discipline and respect for higher authority, so he quickly saluted the latter of the two groups. As for the others, Zero also knew enough not to be a tight-wad about regulations, so he ignored them as well.

After a while, Zero found himself by the lounge where that party had been held a week ago. All of the furniture in the room had been put back, as well as the replacement stereo system installed. Sitting inside in a comfortable looking chair with his back towards the main entrance was X, left leg crossed over the other as he read a book on Japanese history and culture. Zero had a few books about Japan in his room as well, though his were about the ancient Samurai's sword fighting techniques, some of which he applied to his style of fighting.

"Yo, X."

The Blue Bomber looked up from his book, twisted his head around, and smiled at Zero.

"What's up?"

"Well, the sky, clouds, planes…" Zero jokingly remarked, taking a seat next to X.

"I thought you had some work to do?" X asked, placing his book on a table beside him.

"I put that on that back burner for now. You know that I hate being a paper pusher."

"It comes with the job, Zero," X commented, sighing at his friend's incredible laziness.

Zero knew X was right, but he didn't care. There were much larger problems to worry about and they both knew it. Besides, Cain didn't care all that much whether or not it was done. Only the GDC did, specifically Emilius Cristoph. The only time Zero was ever serious about doing the administrational parts of his position is when it came to screening new applicants for his unit.

"What are we going to do about Dan?" X asked, staring up at the ceiling, his voice turning low. Zero sighed and hunched over, clasping his hands together.

"Who knows? Sooner or later, he's going to have to either join the Hunters or get a job. Cain may be a pretty generous guy, but he'll only tolerate freeloaders for so long."

"Maybe he'll make an exception with Dan," X replied.

"Make an exception about what?"

X and Zero both turned around in surprise at the sound of Dan's voice. He was leaning against the entrance's doorframe, arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

"Dan? Is that really you?" Zero asked, not believing his eyes.

"The one and only. Oh, and thanks for the money, X. I followed your suggestion and got out for a while." Dan flipped X's debit card back to him. X easily caught it, but he continued to gape at Dan's new look. Zero got out of his chair and walked up to Dan, slowly circling him and taking in all the changes that he had made.

"Damn… you're looking real sharp, Dan. I like the visor; it adds a 'badass' factor to you."

Dan chuckled.

"Thanks Zero." He turned his attention towards X.

"Well, what do you think?"

"What do I think?" X repeated, walking up to Dan. His expression was not one of approval or mild disinterest. He was appalled. His eyes flared up at Dan, his stance rigid and prepared for the verbal lashing he was about to dispense.

"What do I think? I'll tell you what I think! I think that this is horrible!"

Though his eyes could no longer be seen, Dan's expression fell neutral and he looked away. X ignored him. He had hoped that Dan would be willing to tackle his demons head on, to overcome the obstacles that had been placed in his path. Now, it was obvious that he was just taking the easy way out.

"You made those changes so you wouldn't have to deal with your problems! You're just trying to hide from yourself!"

Dan started walking away. X took a deep breath and said the one thing that he had wanted to say.

"You're damn lucky that you have someone who cares about you!"

All of a sudden, Dan halted in tracks. For a moment, X thought that he had finally gotten through. Then Dan turned around. His mouth was drawn into a thin line. His hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly. X stood firm. If Dan wanted to turn this into an all out fight then, as far as X was concerned, let him. It would probably do the two of them good to get all their pent up emotions out of their systems.

Dan walked up to X. X could feel Dan's eyes staring straight at his from behind that visor. X met that gaze with the iron determination not to flinch. One way or another, a turning point had been reached.

Dan stopped with his face just inches away from X's.

"I don't care what you say anymore; this is my life,' Dan said in a low, controlled voice. X was shocked. That was not a response that was expecting. He turned and began walking down the main hall. He had only gone a few steps when he stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"Go to Hell with your own life. Leave me alone."

And with that, Dan walked down the hall and out of sight.

X and Zero remained in a stunned silence. X began reconsidering what he had said. Maybe he should've been more understanding? Or should he have tried to understand Dan's point of view? As soon as any possible comprise entered his head, he immediately cast it aside. What X had said needed to be said. There was no other way around it.

Zero sighed and shook his head.

"What do you think he'll do now, X?"

"I don't know, Zero. I honestly don't know. As much as I hate his new look, he's acting a lot more confident now."

Dan sighed as he stared at the radio besides his bed. The digital readout said that was roughly 9 P.M. now. After his verbal spat with X, Dan had gone into his room, locked the door and refused to come out, spending his whole time lying on his bed and thinking. And he had come to a conclusion.

It was time for him to leave Maverick Hunter Headquarters.

There was nothing for Dan to pack or worry about. Though he didn't know what to do with X, Zero, or Cain. As much he didn't want to, Dan grudgingly admitted to himself that he had become attached to them during his stay here. But he couldn't say good-bye in person. Cain would probably try to stop him for some reason or another. It was hard to tell with X. Maybe he'd still be mad from their fight and tell Dan off. Or he could try and talk him into staying. As for Zero… it was strange, but Dan got the feeling that all Zero would do is pat him on the back, wish him well and send him on the way.

Out of three that he knew well, Zero was probably the closest to a friend he had.

However, he wasn't a hundred percent sure at what either one would do. Getting off his bed, Dan searched around for the note from X that he had tossed on the floor. After locating it by the door, he straightened it out the best he could, placed it blank side up on his nightstand, and wrote a short letter of explanation with the pen that was left there.

When it was finished, Dan left it on the center of his bed and walked out the room. The hallway lights were dimmed and mostly empty. A single cleaning robot could be seen down the hall to Dan's right, but that was it, save for a few reploids chatting outside someone's room. Dan walked down towards the main entrance. He passed a few guards and other reploids on the way, but none of them spared him a look.

As Dan placed his hand on the front door, he paused and looked back at the place that he had been living for the past three weeks.

"Good-bye, everybody - I've got to go. Got to leave you all behind and face the truth," he softly sang, quoting an old song.

He opened the door and a moment later was gone.


	11. Loyalty

The nightlife in New Tokyo was not much different than Dan remembered it. The same streetlights lit the same areas of the roads, the dim, yellow illuminations somehow serving to amplify the shadows that they were supposed to drive away. The same stores were open, neon and blinking lights shining brilliantly, enticing the simple minded to walk in their doors. Moreover, the same damn idiots drove down the roads, causing all kinds of accidents, like a three car pileup that Dan passed.

His hands hung loosely by his side, swaying slightly with his pace. His posture was somewhat slouched, his head bowed in thought.

_So much has changed… what am I going to do with myself now? Where can I go?_

In all honesty, Dan did not have much of a clue. Before his unfortunate brush with 'death', he had a semester of college tucked under his belt - too bad that his field of choice was accounting. He was sure that the presence of reploids had changed the economy enough that his limited knowledge was nearly useless.

With a heavy sigh, Dan continued to plod down the sidewalks of the city.

Storefronts, office buildings, warehouses, markets, mini-malls… all melted into a generic metropolis in his eyes. His traveling was aimless, drifting from one side of New Tokyo to the next without any regard for anyone he happened to pass. Some were human, some were reploid - all ignored him in favor of their own troubles. Dan did not mind them. It was better than being the center of attention as he had been for the past two days.

Farther and farther he walked, leaving the pristine uptown behind and entering the seedier parts. The visual change was not immediate. It was more of an ambient feeling, that this area of the city was more rundown than the rest of it. However, the sights did gradually change - going from polished metal and maintained vinyl into a mixture of dull red and gray bricks covered with graffiti and faded posters. After a short while, a voice booming over a loud speaker caught his attention. It was a rich voice that carried with it a sense of purpose and honesty. Curious, Dan headed towards it.

--------------

It had been only a short walk to the source of the voice. Dan turned a corner, finding himself in a large parking lot. Instead of numerous vehicles filling the spots, there was a multitude of people, mostly reploid but some human, gathered around a large podium, several lights illuminating the man standing on it. He was a reploid, his clothing relatively plain but noticeably marked by the image of the Cross on the front for all to see.

It was an evangelist if Dan ever saw one.

Interested at hearing how a reploid would preach, Dan leaned up against a nearby signpost, crossed his arms, and listened.

"My brothers, humans and reploids are more alike than any of us think," the reploid shouted out, swaying his arms to emphasis his speech. "We are both imbued by the Lord with a soul. Yes, we reploids do have a soul. We laugh, we cry, we rage, we cheer, we do everything that humans can do. And our soul remains, even after this body has decayed.

"I can sense you all asking yourselves, 'But reploids are machines, and can be repaired.' I freely admit that this is true. But have any of you ever read about reploid resurrection? It is a dangerous process, and even if it is successful, the revived reploid never retains all of his memories and feelings from his previous life."

"What about when Zero was resurrected?" asked a timid male voice from the audience. The preacher dove into the question without hesitation.

"The great Maverick Hunter Zero is the sole exception to this. Those who lived during Sigma's first Maverick Uprising know that Zero sacrificed himself for Megaman X, and was brought back to life six months later, with no side effects. This, my brothers, is nothing less than a miracle! It should be obvious that the Lord's hand guided Zero's spirit back into his body to continue His work.

"My point is this, brethren: just as it was written in the Holy Scriptures, our bodies are merely vessels for our souls. Whether that body is made of flesh and bone or wire and metal makes no difference. We, both humans and reploids, are more than the sum of out parts!"

The preacher's voice resounded before the receptive crowd, each one taking it in. To some, it was a confirmation of beliefs they already held. To others, it was a serious matter to ponder. For a few, it was the biggest load of lies they ever heard. The preacher took a deep breath while he mentally prepared for what he was to say next.

"My brothers, you have all heard about Daniel Parker, the man who was changed from a human into a reploid. This has ignited a wildfire of controversy. Many have claimed that this has 'proven' that the human mind is nothing more than a machine. I say otherwise! I say that this is yet another example of the Lord at work!"

Behind his visor, Dan's eyebrow twitched.

"Dr. Light was a genius, perhaps the greatest to have lived. But to suggest that he could tamper in the God's domain is preposterous! It should be easy to see that the Lord aided Dr. Light in preserving Daniel's spirit."

"Really?"

All eyes went Dan. His mouth was drawn into a sneer, his hidden eyes flashing with hatred. With slow, deliberate, steps, he walked towards the podium, ignoring the attention he was garnering.

"Well, my brother, do you have something to add in this discussion?" The preacher maintained a friendly, open attitude, a smile on his face and a relaxed pose for his body.

"Have you… have _any_ of you considered what he is going through?" Dan kept his identity masked, not wanting to risk exposure. "I have. Ever since that first report on him appeared on the evening news the other night, he's all I've thought about. I watched the world's reaction, how the ignorant masses rose up in angry lynch mobs, thirsting for that poor man's blood. He never asked for any of this bullshit to happen to him."

"These people are merely-"

"What? Confused? Irrational? They're all _human_. That will never change. Because of stupidity and primal fear, they kill an innocent man because he's different." Dan reached the podium, and stared into the preacher's eyes. Confusion and fear filled them; fear that Dan's little spiel would undo his entire speech. Dan snorted loudly and turned around, a defiant look on his face, his visor making him seem all the more imposing.

"_Any God that would allow that kind of travesty to happen is not worthy of my praise!_"

Leaving the stunned and silenced crowd behind, Dan walked into a darkened alleyway with a hurried step. He burned with a raging inferno. How dare them. How dare they say he should be grateful to that old bastard. His life had been a living hell because of him. And God. Why should he feel any sort of…

Dan stopped, in both his mind and his walk. Why was he feeling that way? He never had a conflict of faith before, and this did not challenge it. He was so confused. What should he be doing? What was his purpose in life now? Did he have some sort of higher purpose, or was his second chance merely a fluke?

Footsteps from behind him caught Dan's attention. He turned around. The figure was a male reploid of the humanoid type. He appeared to be a normal civilian class with the appropriate clothing, though he counted off his steps as if he were a soldier. However, what Dan noticed most of all was the aura of confidence that he exuded.

"I heard you back there," the reploid said, his voice carrying the same assurance as his walk.

"Yeah, and?" Dan replied. He kept his guard up. Something about this reploid did not sit right with him

"Well, I thought you would like to know that you're not alone."

"… go on."

"I know people, kindred spirits, who would be more than willing to accept you."

Dan thought on that for a moment. Something was ringing in his head, a hint of recognition. He could recall X's voice, telling him about-

"You mean Mavericks, don't you?" he asked, remembering what it was.

"To use a politically correct term, yes, I'm referring to Mavericks. But not all are infected by the infamous virus."

Dan stared at the other man. Could this be it? Were these Mavericks truly where he belonged?

There was only one way to find out.

"Take me there."

The man nodded, and grinned, wide and toothy. Without any further words, he started to walk on down the alley again, Dan following close. They walked in silence for several blocks, where they reached a parked car. The man took a silver electronic device the size of his palm out of his pocket and pressed one of the two buttons on it. The lights flashed, and the door locks disengaged.

Just before the two entered the car, the man paused and looked at Dan.

"By the way, my name's Brush."

They climbed in and drove off towards the city limits.

--------------

Brush filled time by talking to Dan. At first, it was mindless chatter, aimed at learning more about the red armored man. When Dan did not answer his questions, Brush quieted down and kept his attention on the road. In silence, Dan found himself dwelling on thoughts about X and Zero. He wondered how they would react to his decision. For that matter, he was also curious how the world would react. Would they treat him like any other Maverick? That was the most likely choice, but there was another. Would modern society reevaluate itself, the people wondering if they were doing the right thing? Hell, he could be the next Rosa Parks. The thought brought a grin to Dan's face.

His driver noticed the grin, and asked, "What's so funny?"

"Just a private thought."

When Dan did not elaborate, Brush began talking again. He told Dan about the place they were heading, a warehouse and office complex. Officially, and legally, it was used as storage for scrap metal that was being processed for any potential usage before heading to the scrapheap. Naturally, this provided the group an almost constant supply of useful materials that they could put to good use, and gave them some untraceable funds on the side. It was a well-maintained organization, one that rivaled anything the infamous mobsters of the Prohibition Era had.

Dan sat in silence as the vehicle passed through the front gate of the compound. Brush parked the vehicle, and he and Dan climbed out.

"I'll let you in to meet the rest of the gang," Brush said as he led Dan towards the warehouse. "Find the shift supervisor, and tell him that you've come to inquire about a purchase."

"Of what?"

"Just a purchase. He'll show you the way down."

They reached the warehouse side door. As Dan reached to open it, a question came to mind.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to let the guys in charge know about your arrival. Lots of red tape. You get what I'm saying."

Brush walked off to the office complex. Dan went inside the warehouse. Just as he had been told, there was a massive amount of scrap work being done. Dozens of reploids worked the facility, most of them wearing red vests and orange hardhats. However, above on an open frame walkway was one man, also a reploid, who had a clipboard in his hands, slowly walking around, making checks on some list.

Dan found the stairs leading towards whom he assumed was the shift supervisor. Quickly ascending it, he approached the man in a nonchalant manner. The reploid looked up at Dan with a somewhat surly manner.

"Can I help you?" he asked his voice gruff.

"I hope so. I'm here to inquire about a purchase."

At once, the man's eyes lit up. He nodded.

"Sure thing. Follow me to the back."

The two men went back onto the ground level and walked into a break room. The space was well equipped. A few couches were set against the wall, a glass table set in the center of the room, and a counter near the entrance with a mini-refrigerator set atop it. Missing was the usual coffee brewer, but Dan guessed that reploids did not need a caffeine stimulant.

The shift supervisor walked over to the mini-refrigerator and opened it up. Hidden inside, behind the condenser, was a small pressure switch. If someone casually brushed the switch, nothing would happen. Only when that specific section was pushed would the switch activate. The shift supervisor pushed the switch. The sound of a hydraulic seal being released was heard. A section the wall slid down, and revealed a rusted passage leading into the ground.

"When you get down there, make sure to check in with Seph. He'll assign you a room."

The foreman gave Dan a quick nod before heading back to his work. As soon as the door shut, Dan took a deep breath and walked into the passageway. Several seconds later, the wall closed behind him.

His way illuminated only by blinking halogen lights, the red armored man followed the corridor to an elevator. The panel inside only had a single other floor to travel to. Pressing the button, the doors closed and he descended. Even though Brush had said that the operation made a good deal of money, the elevator creaked several times, making Dan wonder if they even cared about their people.

With the chiming of a bell, the elevator stopped. Its doors opened to reveal a concrete bunker that had been extensively renovated into underground living quarters. In the main room was a few reploids, idly chatting the time away. When Dan took his first steps in, all talk ceased as their attention focused on him. Dan took a deep breath, and continued walking onward. He still was not comfortable with being the center of attention.

Most of the other corridors were made out of steel, and lit by florescent lights. Dan asked around for the reploid the shift supervisor had told him about, but all gave him a different answer. Becoming flustered to the point of just finding a room of his own, the red armored man headed towards the mess hall, the one place he had not look yet. As it was the middle of the night, not many reploids were in the room, most of them sitting at a table and talking. However, standing off to the side and staring into space was one reploid, one patterned after a bison, looking as if he had some importance.

"Are you Seph?" Dan asked, walking over. The bison reploid turned its massive heads towards Dan.

"That I am. You must be a newcomer, huh?"

"Yeah," Dan replied, coming to a halt several steps away.

"And I guess that idiot of a foreman told you to come to me for a room?" Seph snorted and shook his head. "I've told him a thousand times, 'Don't you dare stick those newbies to me.' But does he listen? No. He just keeps on send them to me, like I had any authority here."

Dan stayed silent and let the reploid rant. With a curled lip, Seph glared at the red armored man.

"Go and find your own room. I can tell by your looks that you're just another punk-ass who thinks he's a hot-shot, and this is his way of rebel-"

Seph found himself cut-off by Dan roughly grabbing him by the mane and shoving him against the wall. A shocked look crossed the bison reploid's face. It took considerable strength, more than any normal humanoid reploid usually had, to do that to him. His expression quickly changed to fear as Dan pointed the barrel of his buster in Seph's face.

"You listen to me: I am here only because I _choose_ to be and I can just as easily _choose_ to leave, got it?"

Seph quickly nodded his head. Dan kept him pinned for several more seconds before finally letting go and walking off. Regaining his composure quickly, Seph took a deep breath and stared after Dan.

"So, what name can we call you by?"

Dan paused in his steps. He could not give them his real name; something in his gut told him that was a bad idea. However, he could not just ignore them. They needed something that would fit, yet not give Dan's identity away.

"You can call me… Shades."

It sounded pleasant to Dan's ears. Seph slowly nodded.

"Well then, Shades, I'm looking forward to getting to know you better."

Dan did not reply. He walked out of the room. Those that had been talking never once flinched at the conversation between Dan and Seph.

Several minutes later, Dan found a room that was unoccupied, and moved in. He entered his own customized key-code to the door, ensuring that no one could bother him. The room was of Spartan furnishings - a cot, footlocker, and nothing else. However, as if in stark contrast to that, the room was large, twenty feet by twenty feet with a ceiling of what appeared to be the same length.

Flopping down on his bed, Dan started wondering about what he was capable of now. He knew about his buster's unparalleled capabilities, but nothing else. In response to his idle thought, his computer gave a complete readout of his body. His armor plating was of interest to Dan. Learning that his buster still had not unleashed its full fury was frightening. However, his computer said that the charge time for his most powerful shot was a full minute, in addition to requiring a third of his operations energy.

What intrigued Dan the most was his extended air dash thrusters. Working up his courage, he walked to the center of the room and jumped. He was so surprised to find that he could jump his own height that he forgot about the thrusters. Upon landing, he focused his mind and tried again. This time, upon reaching his jump's crest, he willed that his thrusters would engage. With the roar of rockets firing, Dan launched an additional six feet in the air, so high that he could touch the ceiling.

Slowly, creeping up as a lion would its prey, a smile crossed Dan's face. He started laughing. This was so much fun to do. Throwing all caution aside, he began dashing all around his room, trying every form of movement combination that he could think up. Even banging into the walls several times did not deter him. It was only after receiving a concussion from a misjudged landing did Dan finally stop. With a grin on his face, Dan flopped on to his cot and fell asleep.

--------------

Nearly a week had passed since Dan arrived at the Maverick hideout. He spent most of his time wandering around the facility, getting to know its layout. He never felt much of a lure to socialize with the others that were there. None of them made an attempt, either, all content to let the man who put Seph in a tight spot alone.

Feeling the need to stretch his legs, Dan left his room, and started walking around the bunker. The halls were empty. The pounding of music from the cafeteria gave the reason why, however. The music… something about it caught Dan's attention. It was not anything in particular that he recalled, yet, it struck a familiar tone with him. It drew him to it like the rats to the pied piper.

When Dan reached the cafeteria, he did not go in and join the partying. Rather, he stood just outside the door, hiding in the shadows. From his position, he could see everything that happened. At first glance, it seemed as a normal party. However, that all changed when he saw the copious amounts of alcohol passed around. It was not something as simple as wine coolers either. It was the hard stuff, all around fifty proof. The reploids hollered as they passed the liquor around, spraying it everywhere without a care. The liquid painted the walls. Clothing was thoroughly drenched. Virtually none was drunk.

The band changed songs. It was heavy on the electric guitar, bass, and drums. It was not something that he recognized, though he knew the genre – heavy metal. There were no words to the song, just loud, senseless noise that assaulted his ears. Several female reploids climbed onto the tables, and stripped off their clothes. All the men started to hoot and whistle even louder.

Dan scowled and walked away.

"Times change," he mumbled. "Society's scum does not."

_If that's true, then, why are you with them?_

Dan did not have an answer. He opted to stay silent, and continued walking.

After several minutes, the sounds of a pleasant conversation caught his attention. The door to someone's room ahead was left ajar. Curious, Dan looked inside. Seated around a table were three humanoid-class reploids, each, however, wearing some kind of battle armor. The one opposite the door noticed Dan standing outside.

"Hey there. Want to join us?"

After a moment's hesitation, Dan walked inside. The three men greeted him with warm smiles and an open invitation to a spare chair, which Dan eagerly occupied.

"You're that Shades guy, right? The one who put Seph up against a wall?" the one who invited Dan in asked.

"Yeah, that's me," he nonchalantly replied. "And you three are?"

"Just three idiots who don't know when to throw in the towel," the reploid on the left said with a wry grin. His friends laughed.

"Seriously, though," the same one continued. "We're ex-Repliforce."

Dan raised an eyebrow from behind his visor. From what X had told him last nearly two weeks ago, the Repliforce had been duped into going Maverick by Sigma, the surviving members granted full pardon, though kept under heavy surveillance.

"I'm Bahl," the one who invited him in said. "This is Deupree and Casali," he continued, motioning to his respective left and right.

"Then, how'd you wind up here?" The three reploids' faces turned dour.

"We couldn't fit in. Society, that is. The rest of the guys were able to get in with the air division."

Casali, who had remained quiet, spoke up.

"Hey, who was that guy in charge of them? That Pegasus type reploid?"

"Skiver," Bahl answered.

"Right, right."

"So…" Dan said, after a moment's pause. "Why aren't you three down at the party?" Bahl crossed his arms.

"Unlike the rest of these jackasses, we maintain a little something call morals and ethics. They all think they're making some sort of grand statement by rebelling." He snorted. "If you ask me, they're all just like a bunch of kids who deliberately do the stuff that pisses mom and dad off."

"Got that right."

"Uh-huh."

The night continued on, Dan chatting with his newfound acquaintances into the early hours of the morning.

--------------

Life went on inside the Maverick Hunter Headquarters. X returned to his job, quietly accepting the fact that Dan was gone. However, inside, he was hurting. He wanted to have a real brother relationship with Dan. Now, unless Dan returned, that would never happen. Zero did not have any trouble with Dan leaving. He believed that it was for the best. Cain, however, had to deal with an extra headache. Cristoph had called MHHQ, informing Cain that a group of GDC historical researchers wished to interview Dan. The councilman blew his lid when Cain told him he was gone.

Each one accepted Dan's choice, however. Most of the others in the Hunter organization did not notice Dan's disappearance. Those that did shrugged it off, and went on with their day.

Cain walked down the halls of MHHQ, a grim look on his face and a datapad held tightly in his hand. A moment ago, he called X and Zero to a meeting within the conference room, for reasons that he would not announce over the intercom. The information he had been given was of a very sensitive matter.

The aged man reached the conference room and walked inside, finding X and Zero already seated and awaiting him. X turned to ask Cain why he had called them here, and then saw Cain's expression. Cain walked over to his position at the head of the conference table and sat down. Before saying a word, he activated the room's security measures. Zero quickly glanced at X. With the security measures in place, the room became virtually spy-proof.

"What's wrong?" X finally asked. Cain did not answer. Instead, he up-linked his datapad to the room's computer system. After a moment's delay, a hologram appeared in the center of the room, displaying a picture of a warehouse.

"This is a photograph of a scrap processing center near the city limits," Cain explained, his voice slow and steady. "It has been under investigation by the police for several months. Apparently, there were rumors of it being an illegal arms dealership. That is not the case."

Cain pressed a button on his datapad. The image changed into a wireframe model of the facility. However, it also displayed a large underground complex.

"Instead, it is a hideout for Mavericks."

"Sigma?" X tensely asked.

"Thankfully, no, and not of any Maverick threat near his scale. This appears to be nothing more than a large group of malcontents."

Zero leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Then why are we being shown this? This falls under MSWAT jurisdiction."

"Normally, it would. However, one photo changes the whole thing."

Slowly, Cain pressed the button on his datapad again. When the new image was displayed, X's eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped. The artificial blood in his veins froze. His skin became as ash, while the breath in his throat caught. He wanted it to Sigma. He wanted it to be the X-Hunters. He wanted it to be anything but this.

A picture of Dan, still in his armor, shone brightly in the hologram.

"No…" X croaked out. "This can't be right. Dan's not a Maverick."

"X, this isn't the only picture of him," Cain softy replied.

"I don't care how many fucking pictures there are! Dan is _not_ a Maverick! He's confused, that's all!" The Blue Bomber slammed his fist on the table, the image distorting for a brief moment. Cain closed his eyes. He hated this part of his job.

"X, as the commander of the Maverick Hunters, this is a potential threat that I cannot ignore. I have a responsibility to society to make sure that what needs to be done is done. But I agree with you one-hundred percent. Dan is more than likely just confused. However, if he is not…" He let the words hang, his implication clear.

"I'm ordering the 17th and 0th units to attack this Maverick facility. If Dan truly has gone Maverick, your units stand the best chance of taking him down."

In one of the few moments of his life, X stared at Cain with raw hatred and contempt. Darkness hid his eyes as flame ignited in them.

"Yes, _sir_."

Before Zero or Cain could say anything, X stormed out of the room. He needed to be alone.

Several minutes later, X was standing atop the roof of the building, looking out over all of New Tokyo. The sun was in its descending arc, drawing long shadows across the earth. A chill wind nipped at the people's noses, a definite sign that autumn was on its way. To the west, the mighty Pacific Ocean glittered in the dying daylight. The aftermath of World War III had reshaped a portion of the western North American coastline, rendering the American states of Washington and Oregon in half, while biting away a chunk of California and the Canadian province of British Columbia.

It was such a peaceful sight. In the past, X could always count on it to sooth him. Now, it did nothing.

The door leading to the roof opened, and someone came walking out towards X. The Blue Bomber did not bother to look; he could tell that it was Zero. The Crimson Hunter came to a halt next to his friend. For several minutes, they stood in silence, and shared in the view.

"How can Cain do this, Zero? He knows Dan. He knows that he's not a threat."

"He's just doing his job, X. Why else do you think he keeps a cabinet stocked with liquor close by?"

X did not respond.

"After you left, Cain told me that we're moving out in few hours, after it gets dark. We should brief our units before then."

"I can't do this, Zero. I can't kill my own brother."

"I'm not expecting you to, and neither is Cain. God willing, this will all be over before midnight, with Dan still alive."

The pair stayed silent for a moment, before going back inside. There was work to be done.

--------------

"So, this is the armory you guys maintain, huh?" Dan pointlessly asked as his new friends showed off the arms cache.

"Yeah. You'd be surprised to find out what people throw away that can be repaired."

The armory was sealed by a reasonably thick door of met alloy, secured by a DNA scanner, modified for reploids. An impressive amount of weapons lay inside, mostly energy based automatic rifles. However, there was a small supply of Maverick Hunter quality X-busters and beam sabers.

"Pick something."

Dan gave Casali a shocked look, masked by his visor.

"Seriously?"

"Absolutely. You're an all right guy, Shades, with more brains and common sense than most others here have. You won't go off and do something stupid."

Dan wondered if Casali would say the same thing if he knew the truth.

"Go ahead," Bahl said. "Take anything you want."

Dan began looking around the armory. He had no need of any of the weapons, however. His buster (which his computer labeled as Prototype Buster) dwarfed the X-Busters in every aspect. He also had no idea how to properly use any of the rifles or beam sabers. To the side of the room, though, was a sealed crate.

"Hey, what's in that?"

Deupree looked at the crate.

"You know, I completely forgot we had that."

"What is it?"

"A little something left over from our days in the Repliforce."

Motioning to Bahl for assistance, Deupree dragged the crate into the middle of the room. Dan looked on with intrigue. Obviously, whatever was inside was extremely heavy. After taking a moment to recover his strength, Deupree opened the electromagnetic seal on the crate. With a loud clunk, the lock disengaged, and Deupree opened the lid.

"You're welcome to take a look, though I doubt you'll be able to pick it up. It was designed for the heavy assault divisions."

Dan was even more curious now. Walking up, he looked inside the crate.

Inside, still a dull primer gray from the factory, was a large shield with a plasteel covering at roughly eye level.

Dan was in awe. At once, he could feel a connection with the shield. Slowly, as if he were picking up a newborn, he grabbed hold of the shield, and pulled it out. His three companions looked on with shock.

"Holy shit. Just how strong _are_ you?" Bahl asked.

The red armored man did not reply, still running his eyes over the shield. He flipped it around to look at the inside. There was a handle on the right side of the shield, obviously designed to be held with the left arm. Horizontal from the handle was a rectangular box, its purpose not readily apparent. Dan slipped his left hand into the handle. Immediately, the rectangular box drew itself towards his arm, securing his hold with magnets. He ran his free hand over the interior. Half way down, small print interrupted the glass-smooth interior. Looking closely, he read the lettering.

Made with pride in the U.S.A.

"What's this made out of?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"TTF, titaniumteflo alloy, strongest substance known to man."

"I want it."

"Er, sure, Shades," Bahl uneasily responded. Dan looked at him with a cocked head.

"Is that a problem?"

"No, no. We're men of our word," Casali declared before anyone could contradict him. "It's yours."

Dan grinned broadly, hefting the shield several times to test its weight. It was the breadth of his torso and arms, and ran a length from the top of his helmet to just below his groin area. There was no way any hand-held weapon could harm him.

He just needed to get it painted.

--------------

The stretch of highway outside of the Maverick complex was silent in the night air. The machinery was shut down, the workers below in the bunker. Only a night watch equipped with nothing more than flashlights remained above ground. The stillness and serenity was shattered by a dozen warping Maverick Hunters crashing into the ground and reforming. It was only a small fraction of the combined might of the 17th and 0th units, deemed more than enough for this mission. However, the remaining forces were kept on full alert.

X and Zero were among the first to materialize. Neither one had their weapons ready. For a moment, they stood in silence, observing the factory. Then, they armed themselves and gave the order to move in.

--------------

Dan was in his room, a can of red paint matched to his body sitting beside him. Held in his left hand was his shield, the front facing him. In his right was a spray head, a hose snaking from it to the paint can. A fine mist shot from the nozzle, giving his shield a final coat. Setting the spray head down, Dan peeled off the masking tape the covered an inch of the shield's edge and the plasteel view port. He wanted to take the time not only to admire his work but also to get used to it.

Sirens and red lights blared to life throughout the bunker compound. Dan rocketed onto his feet, still holding onto the edge of his shield. He was acquainted well enough with the security protocols to know what they meant; someone had broken into the facility.

Without any delay, Dan flipped his shield around and threw it onto his back. The magnetic clamp secured its position as he ran out the door. All around, he could see and hear the reploids in the bunker trying to arm themselves and organize a resistance. He grabbed one such reploid as he passed by and asked, "Who's attacking?"

"The Maverick Hunters!"

A shocked look breaks out over Dan's face, the reploid breaking free. He did not know what to do. His new companions would be expecting him to fight back. Yet, his time among the Hunters was foremost on his mind. In a stupor, he walked into the hallway. At the same time, Seph ran down the hall, and nearly into Dan.

"Shades!" the massive bison reploid called out. "Thank God you're here! With your help, we can force these bastards out!"

Dan did not reply. His eyes bore a distant stare, one that Seph could not see.

"What the hell are you doing, standing around? The Hunters are in the west wing! Get your red ass over there and fight back!"

"What about you?" Dan managed to ask.

"I'm going to get rifle. Now get moving!"

Seph lumbered past Dan. The red armored man watched after the massive reploid until he vanished around the corner. Dan still did not know what to do, though he knew he had to do something. Help the Hunters? Help the Mavericks? He had to side with one. There was one thing that he had to do, however, no matter what: he had to find the Hunters. With purpose at last, Dan shifted his right arm into buster mode and took off towards the west wing, plowing through the thinning crowds.

It only took him two minutes to reach the wing. There were several other reploids around, all Mavericks, armed and fighting back, though they seemed to be hiding more than fighting. Still not sure of what to do, Dan kept his buster ready, though he did not charge it. He felt his mind slipping into a familiar state. His movements slowed as his mind opened and became more aware of his surroundings, analyzing them to help in fighting.

The hall was large enough for him to lay prone. The steel reinforced concrete might protect him from the plasma fire; it depended upon the plasma's power and concentration. The air the faint smell of ionization, as there was before a storm. He analyzed his potential allies, the Mavericks. There was no definite leader, resulting in poor organization. Their lack of training, and inferior arms, almost guaranteed a victory for the Hunters.

The Hunters. Dan still had to see them. Slowly, in a half crouch, he crept towards the hallway junction. A handful of scorch marks lined the wall. Lying face down in the middle of the T-junction was a female Maverick, a hole where her right breast used to be, a growing pool of blood beneath her. Having been dead himself, the body did not bother Dan.

He reached the corner and dropped to a full crouch. Slowly, he stuck his head around the corner. The hall was twenty-five feet long, and at the other end stood a handful of Hunters. Dan froze in place. X and Zero were standing on the other side. The noise around him became distant and muffled. Time seemed to slow. He became unable to wrench his gaze from the two Hunters.

Again, the ugly question reared its head. Side with the Hunters? Side with the Mavericks?

It was only a matter of time before Dan was recognized. Zero's gaze met his, and it fell. The two stared at each other. After several moments, X followed his partner. Dan lowered his head. He could not stand up to X, not now.

_What should I do, damn it? What should I do?_

All of a sudden, the answer came to him, as if he were shot with a silver bullet. His jaw clenched and his eyes hardened. He knew what to do.

Slowly, surely, Dan looked towards X and Zero, and raised his buster.


	12. Madman

X and Zero jogged down the halls of the Maverick bunker. Their entry had been smooth enough. The watchmen surrendered immediately upon sighting the Hunters. The undercover policewoman showed the Hunters the path down before she called for pickup. The Mavericks' resistance was minimal. A few gave up at once. However, the majority either attempted to fight hand-to-hand or retreated to arm themselves. Even then, they were no match for the 17th and 0th Maverick Hunter units.

Missing, though, was Dan. X gave explicit instructions to his unit to notify him immediately if Dan was seen. Zero did the same with his element. So far, neither one had used their weapons, though they both kept them at the ready. If Dan truly had gone Maverick, they needed to be prepared.

The two Hunters came up a junction where heavy weapons fire was being exchanged. Several scorch marks lined the walls. Zero identified them as belonging to mid-level energy based rifles. While not as powerful as plasma based weapons, they could still cause plenty of damage if hit in the right area. Glancing at the Hunters, he could see a few of them had their armor seared. Obviously, the Mavericks on the other end had some slight skill, though they seemed to be hiding more instead.

"We've had more opposition from the training sims than these wanna be's," Zero dryly commented. X did not reply. Scattered reports from his unit indicated that the west wing was under their control, and that they were making rapid advancement into the east wing. Dan had yet to surface.

"Shit, don't we have any sort of concealment here?" Zero shouted out to the Hunters. One from his unit, as indicated by the patch on his shoulder, spared a look from his place by the hallway corner.

"Sorry, sir. This place is pretty bare boned. Whatever funds they had coming in got spent somewhere other than security."

"Damn it, I hate urban fighting."

By the tone in his voice, X could tell that Zero was getting eager to fight. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, lending the Crimson Hunter greater strength than normal. He started gripped his Z-Saber tighter and tighter. He would be white knuckling, if his hands were not already covered by white gloves. He clenched his jaw, trying to force back the urge to leap into the fray. Every part of his being sang out to him, "Yes! Go and fight! Take thrill in this contest of strength and spirit!"

Zero's willpower was great, but his love for the battlefield was greater. With a shout, he slammed his beam saber into its recharge pack, and shifted his left hand into buster mode. X did not bother to try to stop him. Zero ran across the hall entrance, looking down it for any targets. A female Maverick crossed his sights. She held a rifle, attempting to charge the Hunters' position. Zero let a single shot loose from his buster. The cerulean plasma belched forth and soared down the hallway. The Maverick reacted immediately, falling into a prone position.

The azure shot roared over her head, singeing her hair. Just as she slammed onto the concrete floor, Zero's plasma hit the wall behind her, and exploded into nonexistence. The Maverick did not waste any time; she tucked the stock of the rifle firmly in her shoulder and fired. The yellow bursts lanced out from the muzzle, peppering the area where Zero had been a second earlier. The nearby Hunters slightly crouched further behind the protective barrier of the walls, waiting for an opening.

"Die, Maverick Hunter dogs!" the Maverick shouted out, spraying the opposing area wildly.

One of the Hunters, part of the 17th, recognized the weapon the Maverick was using. He signaled to his companion, and Megaman X, to wait until she had to reload. Several seconds of continued gunfire later, the Maverick's rifle charge ran out, forcing her to stop and change the magazine, just as the Hunter had predicted. Without hesitation, he leaned around the corner and fired off a level two charge from his X-Buster. The plasma shot chewed through the female Maverick's unarmored torso, leaving a gaping hole where her right breast used to be. She fell down, dead, her rifle clattering to the floor beside her.

The Hunters barely had a moment to relax before more Mavericks began firing on their position from behind a corner on the opposite end, their shots coming out in short, controlled bursts. Obviously, they had some more skill than their female comrade did.

"What I wouldn't do for a grenade," Zero mumbled. He peeked around the corner to get a better look. The Mavericks shooting at them were on the left side of the far end. He could not tell exactly, but Zero figured that there were only two Mavericks. Movement on the other side of the hall caught Zero's attention. He looked, ready for any other Maverick that might show.

What he saw was Dan, staring at the Crimson Hunter, his right forearm in buster mode.

"Oh my God," Zero said, his face falling.

"What is it?" X asked, briefly glancing away from the Mavericks.

"It's Dan."

X's head immediately snapped towards the red armored man, following Zero's gaze. As soon as he made eye contact, Dan lowered his head. X and Zero stared at the man. In truth, the two had hoped that it was all just a mistake, that it had not been Dan in the picture.

"So this is it, Dan?" X softly asked to no one. "You've chosen to be a Maverick?"

As if in response, Dan lifted his head towards the Hunters, a look of determination on his features.

X and Zero's blood ran cold as he raised his buster towards them. Time seemed to freeze in that moment. Through the heads of the three men, X, Zero, and Dan, memories of the past month came flooding back - all the pain and hatred that Dan had suffered from society, the grief from losing Kate, of the utter loss of hope.

Yet, Dan did not fire on them. Rather, his arm continued traveling up in an arc, coming back around and down, twisting with his body's turn, until he finally leveled his buster at a target – the Mavericks.

For the first time, of his own conscious control, Dan fired his weapon. A brilliant emerald shot came from his uncharged buster. It rocketed into the Mavericks, causing as much damage to them as a level two X-Buster shot. Dan continued to fire upon Mavericks unseen to X and Zero. Shot after plasma shot rained down upon the Mavericks.

A reploid jumped onto Dan's back, interrupting his barrage, and wrapped his arms around his head. Dan twisted his head, trying to break free from the reploid's grasp. He raised his unchanged left hand, and began beating the reploid with it. The Maverick ignored Dan's blows. He slightly moved his right thumb, igniting the plasma blade of his beam saber. The luminous reflection of its silver blade danced wildly across Dan's curved visor. Dan reacted immediately, tightly grabbing the Maverick's right arm, holding the deadly beam saber at bay.

The two forces grappled with each for several moments, the gap between the plasma blade and Dan's neck slowly growing shorter. Suddenly, Dan reached up with his reformed right hand, grabbed the Maverick reploid by the tuft of his red hair, and tossed him over his head. The Maverick landed roughly on his back, Dan still holding onto his right arm. Reacting quickly, Dan delivered a swift kick to the reploid's head, rendering him unconscious.

There was quiet in the hallway then, for a moment. The Maverick's right hand had gone limp, releasing his iron grip on his beam saber. Its roaring blade fell to the floor, silent without an owner to wield it. Slowly, Dan kneeled down, and picked the weapon up. He was more than willing to oblige the weapon, to bring it to life once more. His left arm snaked up behind his back, and brought his shield in front. With his shield in one hand and the saber in the other, Dan walked across the open hallway, right pass the Hunters and X and Zero. None of them opened fire.

--------------

Dan was like a berserker. Maverick after Maverick fell before him and his blade. At first, they were shocked. They had all seen Dan, thought he had been a kindred spirit. He had lived among them, sat with them, broke bread with them. The shock rapidly dissipated, replaced by rage. They turned their weapons upon him. They could not harm Dan, though; his shield deflected every rifle shot, every plasma burst, and every beam saber slice.

Everything was so clear to him now. He knew why he had yelled at the crowd. He knew why he had not danced with the Mavericks. He knew why he had joined the Mavericks. It was all for a concept that was as old as creation itself.

Revenge. He wanted revenge on the world for they had done to him. For every ounce of suffering they had inflicted upon them, he wanted them to make them pay for tenfold. How dare them. How _dare_ they ostracize him, for casting him out because of something he had no say over. It had taken seeing X and Zero again, however, to make Dan realize another truth. If counted himself among the Mavericks, he would be doing more than just giving them the perfect excuse to kill him.

He would prove them right. If nothing else, he refused to have that.

--------------

The fight did not last long, merely fifteen minutes. Several warp signals had been detected fleeing from the area. A small squad comprised of members from the 17th and 0th units gave chase. MSWAT forces arrived at the warehouse halfway into the fight to block off the road and haul off the surrendered Mavericks to jail for future trials. The remaining Hunters returned to MHHQ, except for two…

X and Zero slowly walked away from the MSWAT vans, finished handing over control of the area to them. The earth below their feet was soft and pliable, leaving broad footprints as they passed. This far away from New Tokyo, the night sky reveled in its entire splendor, each star shining brightly. Ahead of them, quietly standing by himself upon the plain, was Dan, his back towards the Hunters as he stared out upon the Rocky Mountain range.

X and Zero came to a halt a few paces away from Dan. At first, they said nothing. What could they say? That they were sorry? Berate him for joining the Mavericks? They did not know. However, there was one thing that did have to be said.

"Dan?" X asked.

"Hm?" Dan replied, turning to face them. Zero caught a glimpse at the space between Dan's shield. Mounted on his shoulders was a portable saber recharge unit, obviously stolen from some Maverick. It had been arranged was so that Dan would have to reach behind and underneath to grab his beam saber, instead of above and over, as the Crimson Hunter did. Zero thought it was a smart idea for Dan to carry around a beam saber. Dan's buster had a slow rate of fire, leaving him exposed to fast moving enemies, and to any that got close.

X faltered for a moment. His mind had just fully registered what Dan looked like now, or rather, who he looked like.

_All he needs is a yellow scarf and he'd look just like Protoman…_

"Yes, X?" Dan repeated, his voice firm and even, snapping the Blue Bomber of 21XX out of his reverie.

"Zero and I have talked it over with MSWAT and our units. We convinced them that you were a Hunter spy. You won't be accused of going Maverick," X slowly said.

"That's a relief. I know I'm not one."

Zero took a few steps closer to the man.

"You know, Dan, some of my men saw you in action. They come up with a nickname for you." Dan groaned.

"Not another one."

"Trust me, it's not as lame as Alpha."

Dan sighed, and crossed his arms.

"Let's hear."

"They're calling you, 'The Scarlet Knight.'"

Dan laughed.

"The Scarlet Knight," he repeated, letting the words roll off his tongue. "Now _that_ I like."

"Speaking about you in action," Zero continued, falling into a much more casual mood. "You've got a lot of natural talent. If you go through the motions and get the proper training, I'm positive that you'd get as high as a unit commander."

Dan looked away, an uneasy look on his face.

"Thanks, Zero. That means a lot to me. But, I'm not going back to the Hunters." He glanced back at them. "I have to find my own way in this world. It might be with the Hunters, it might not; I don't know. I will find it, though."

X smiled, feeling a tremendous loud lifting from his shoulders.

"And when you do, we'll be here for Dan. We'll always be here for you."

Dan uncrossed his arms, and genuinely did something that he had not done for a long time. He smiled.

"Thank you."

The man stepped forward, and offered his right hand. X and Zero firmly shook it. Then, Dan turned around, and started walking away, not knowing where he would go. The two Hunters stared after him for a while.

"Are you sure that he's not lying, X?"

"I'm sure, Zero." X grinned. "I trust my brother's word."

X and Zero turned around, and were about to walk back to the MSWAT vans when they heard something.

Dan began to whistle. This time, though, he did not stop after four tones and five notes. He continued on, carrying into a full song. There were no words, yet the notes were entwined with emotions. The song spoke of solitude, of long days spent staring into ones soul. It sang of loneliness, and the sadness that came with it. However, in the end, there was hope, that the one who sang the song will not forever exist in the shadows.

The two Hunters continued on, all worry for Dan banished by his song.

--------------

The world continued without Dan's presence. The public's eye, ever wandering, soon found other things to distract itself. Cain breathed easy, knowing that Dan had not fallen into a pit from which there was no escape. Emilius Cristoph, and the organization he secretly worked for, had more important matters than hunting down on rogue man, such as two female reploids that threatened to expose them. Megaman X and Zero were able to work as they had, not knowing they were soon to reach the end of the postwar dream.

As for Daniel Parker…

Some reploids had wanted to call him Alpha, a beginning. Some humans had wanted to call him Omega, an ending. He was neither, though he could not go by his real name anymore. He chose a new name, one that reflected his unique origins and unknown future.

He was Protoman X.

_Check out my livejournal (link in my profile) for a special afterword!_


End file.
